James and the Giant Squid
by darris108
Summary: "I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the Giant Squid!" - Lily Evans  By the end of their 6th year, Lily still finds James an "arrogant, bullying toerag". Soon enough, however, James starts to give the squid some competition.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hello again everyone, I'm back! A brief reprieve from work means that I've been able to write most of this story over the summer holidays, although I go back to school within a week, so updates may not be particularly frequent. However, I'll try to keep them regular at least (remember, there is a difference between regular and frequent!) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, the first chapter: many thanks to my beta, AnnaSmiles, also known as Hat as a Madder. Um… I think that's everything. Enjoy! :-)_

I held the sprig of peppermint above my potion, hesitated for a split-second, and then dropped it.

BANG!

I stood, ashen-faced, over my cauldron, with an expression of pure shock on my face. A few people gave cries of alarm; then, the dungeon classroom exploded with laughter.

"Oh, dear!" chuckled Professor Slughorn, beginning to amble over from the other side of the classroom. I looked towards him, and caught sight of the student he had been talking to in the far corner, who was now roaring with laughter and pointing directly at me. I felt my face turn the colour of a tomato, but with Slughorn in the way, I couldn't so much as make a rude hand gesture without the Potions Master's knowledge.

Slughorn reached my cauldron. Everyone else had stopped laughing, except the boy in the far corner, who was still roaring his head off.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, get OVER yourself, Potter!" I yelled.

That shut him up.

He ceased laughing immediately, and looked rather hurt. _Serves him bloody well right_, I thought, with a sense of grim satisfaction at the look on his face. What an arrogant git.

"Now now, Lily, calm down. What happened here?" asked Slughorn.

"I was... experimenting, Professor," I replied, slightly sheepishly.

"Naturally, naturally," he beamed. He did not mind these regular mishaps; in fact, he encouraged them. He was always willing to let me run free, and was sympathetic when things... didn't go quite as planned. On these occasions, his advice and correction was always constructive, and I admired him deeply for it. "So," he said, "what did you try this time?"

"Well, Professor, I thought I'd try to counteract some of the side-effects of this potion," I explained, showing him a page in my textbook.

"_An Elixir to Induce Euphoria_," he murmured aloud. "Occasional side effects include excessive singing and nose-tweaking... so, what did you add?"

"Peppermint, sir," I replied. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Severus listening intently, occasionally making a note in his textbook, as he so often did when I discussed my 'experiments' with Slughorn. I didn't mind; at least he never acted as though he knew everything already. Not like James bloody Potter...

"Ah, Lily! Take another look at the list of ingredients, and tell me why it went wrong," said the Potions Master. I looked down at my textbook, and cursed myself.

"Syrup of hellebore," I said quietly.

"Exactly," smiled Slughorn genially. "Very volatile reaction with certain... unorthodox ingredients, Lily, including peppermint. Whilst peppermint would do the job, you'd have to find a substitute for the hellebore."

The bell rang, with Slughorn still advising me on substitutes for syrup of hellebore, Severus still scribbling in his copy of _Advanced Potion Making_... and James Potter, still chuckling at my misfortune. I felt anger rise up inside me once more.

Everyone exited the classroom, eager to get to lunch. I was walking up the stairs, still thinking about Potions, when I heard a despicably smug voice behind me.

"Could have fried an egg on your face, Evans," it said.

That was enough. I snapped. I whirled around, flame-red hair flying, and smacked a very surprised-looking James Potter around the face.

"Ouch!" he yelled. He looked stunned. Remus, the only other Marauder that took Potions, stood there, looking between us in a calculating fashion.

James stood there for a second longer, then laughed again, pushed past me and strode off up the stairs. I felt my anger rise; and then, to my horror, tears began to form in my eyes.

I felt someone take hold of my hand. Looking round, I saw Remus looking at me, nothing but concern in his eyes. I sobbed harder, and buried my face in his chest. How could such a decent, warm-hearted person have fallen in with such a crowd of arrogant gits?

He led me up into the Entrance Hall, up the marble staircase, through many secret passages that I would have been surprised to discover if I'd been paying full attention to where we were going, and eventually up to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Climbing through the portrait hole, he led me across the Common Room, ignoring the looks of many shocked Gryffindors, and up to the sixth-year boy's dormitory. As we left the Common Room, I heard the murmuring begin in earnest, and was sure I heard many voices whisper the name, "James Potter."

He sat me down on his bed, pulled up a chair, and sat facing me.

"Lily?" he said, tentatively.

I was still crying. I could not bring myself to meet his gaze.

"Lily, look at me," he said.

Reluctantly, I looked up. His eyes stared into mine, and I felt a slight sense of comfort. Remus was always a good friend to me, despite... well, what one might call 'conflicting loyalties'.

"I know he's a real prat sometimes," he began.

I cut him off. "Understatement of the century," I sniffed bitterly.

He pressed on. "He only does it to... to get your attention."

"To get my attention? To get MY attention?" My voice rose, and I stood up, trembling with fury. "Don't kid yourself, Remus! He doesn't care about me, not really! I'm just the only person who's ever turned him down, and he can't stand that!"

"He does care about you, Lily. He really does," said Remus, calm as ever, trying to placate me. But it didn't work.

"NO HE DOESN'T!" I yelled. "He doesn't care about ANYONE except himself!"

"That's not true," pressed Remus, still infuriatingly calm. "He cares about you, he cares about Sirius, and Peter, and me... despite... what I am."

"So why doesn't he act like it?" I demanded. "Why does he always go around hexing everyone in his way? 'To get my attention'? Bollocks."

"Lily, you know as well as I do that whenever he tries to be civil to you, you still brush him off," he reasoned patiently. I began to open my mouth in protest. "I know you've got good reason, I really do," he continued hurriedly, forestalling my interruption. "Look, just give him a chance. I'll talk to him, try and make him see what an idiot he's being... but when he's being civil, you have to give him a chance. Otherwise he'll just go back to hexing people to get you to notice him."

I was still hesitant. Admittedly, it was true that, on the rare occasion when Potter wasn't acting like a total git, I was still, at best, indifferent towards him. But only because of what he was like the rest of the time! It seemed to me, whatever Remus might say, that the arrogant, hexing-people-for-the-fun-of-it James was the real James, and that the polite, Go-out-with-me-Evans James was just for show, to try and get me to go out with him because I was the only one who ever said 'no'.

However, I trusted Remus. Unwillingly, I nodded. "I'll try," I said, looking up at him, "but only if he does." He looked satisfied. He stood up, and I hugged him, tightly. "Thanks, Remus," I said, sniffing.

At that moment, the dormitory door opened, and three people walked in. The one in front, who had been talking loudly and animatedly, stopped at the sight of Remus and me.

"Wondered where you'd got to, Moony," he said coldly.

Remus motioned for me to go. I did so, looking back as I left. Remus looked composed, but resigned to the argument. James, on the other hand, was incandescent with rage.

_A/N: Free interwebz for anyone who spots all the references to the books/movies in this chapter._

_Also, the speed at which I upload the next chapter is directly proportional to the number of reviews I get. That's a hint, people. :P_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Wow, good feedback from Chapter 1! Thanks for the reviews, here's chapter two. Read, enjoy, and review! (in that order.) My beta (AnnaSmiles) is awesome, as always. _

I heard his voice, cold and furious, as I closed the door behind me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Remus?" demanded James.

"Looking out for a friend," replied Remus calmly, "who's very upset at the moment because someone was very unkind to her." I admired Remus' nerve; I could almost see James growing angrier still. I did not want to listen, but could not bring myself to move away.

"As I remember it, she was the one who hit me!" yelled James.

"And why do you think she did that, James?" asked Remus, whose voice remained the same, even as James' grew louder and more furious.

"I don't know! Everyone else laughed; it was hardly just me, was it?" When Remus did not reply, James continued, "And anyway, that's hardly an excuse for you to bring her up here and start groping her!"

I felt myself growing angry now. I refrained, with difficulty, from bursting back into the room and giving James another smack across the face. Remus, it seemed, shared my feelings.

"I was not _groping_ her!" he said, his voice finally increasing in volume. "I was _comforting_ her, you daft git! You weren't the one that burst into tears after she hit you!"

"I... she... what?" James stammered, so taken aback that he forgot to shout. "Tears? Seriously?"

"Yes, James, she was in tears," said Remus. "She's pretty well fed up of you, to be honest. The way you go around hexing everyone, the way you treat her... well, she's had enough of it."

"The way I treat her?" said James. He sounded defensive now, and slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

Remus appeared to contemplate the question before answering. "You treat her... well, a bit like an object, Prongs." I noted the first use of the Marauder nickname and felt relieved; the conversation had finally returned to friendly ground.

Then I heard a new voice, that of Sirius Black, who interjected, "That's a bit harsh, Moony."

But Remus continued as though he hadn't heard Black speak. "Do you ever really think about how she's actually feeling?"

"Well... yeah... sometimes," said James, but he sounded unsure. I snorted derisively; then froze, horrified, wondering if they'd heard me. They appeared to have missed it, however, and continued.

"So why did you laugh at her in Potions? And why do you still go around hexing people, despite the fact that she made it very clear to you last year what she thought of it?" asked Remus. There was silence for a moment; then I heard the creak of bedsprings. I assumed James had sat down.

"Moony... she really hates me, doesn't she?" came his muffled voice. It sounded as though he had his head in his hands.

"Probably," agreed Remus, "but not completely, I don't think. She wouldn't care so much if she really hated everything about you." It took me a moment to register what Remus had said. Was he implying that I actually gave a damn about James Potter? But before I'd fully grasped this, he continued, "Look, I know you really like her. I know the reason you mess around so much is to get her attention, but you're going about it the wrong way. Lily is a very kind and compassionate person, and probably sees you as an arrogant bully. Other people find what you do funny, but not Lily. So if you really want to get her to like you, you've got to stop."

There was silence for quite a long time. Then James said quietly, "Thanks, Moony."

"D'you want to go down to dinner?" asked Remus.

"Um…no, you go. I'll stay up here for a bit, I reckon," said James. I heard Remus and Sirius walk across the dormitory, Peter scurrying quickly behind them, and hastily retreated downstairs into the Common Room.

I watched the three of them out of the corner of my eye as they walked towards the portrait hole. They all looked over at me: Sirius looking calculating, Peter fascinated, and Remus slightly apologetic. I gave them a few minutes head-start; then followed them down to the Great Hall. The three Marauders were sitting at the far end of the table with their heads together, talking quietly and looking serious. I sat as far away as possible, between my friends Emmeline and Alice. Emmeline, who was going out with Remus, was staring down the table at him and his two companions and did not immediately notice my presence.

"Um… are you okay, Lily?" asked Alice, sounding concerned. Obviously news of the incident in Potions had spread, but I did not particularly want to discuss it.

"Fine, thanks," I said, with a rather forced smile. She shared a meaningful look with Emmeline, who had looked round when Alice had spoken, but the two of them did not press the issue.

I steered the conversation towards the amount of homework the sixth-years had at the moment, which lasted us through dinner. After I had finished eating, I proceeded back up to the common room to make a half-hearted start on said homework but gave up after a little over an hour, finding it difficult to concentrate. I had not seen James at all since leaving the boys' dormitory before dinner; I assumed he was still there. However, just as I finished packing my books back into my bag and swinging it over my shoulder, the portrait of the Fat Lady opened, and he clambered through it.

He caught sight of me and for a second seemed to hesitate, unsure of himself. Then he walked straight towards me. He had his broom in his hand and looked windswept, evidently having been flying. I could not begin to imagine why; the last match of the season was weeks away and there was no practice tonight.

He stopped in front of me and again hesitated. Then he said, "Um, hi, Lily." I returned the greeting in an even tone. He took a deep breath, and then did something I'd never heard him do to anyone before.

He apologised.

"Lily," he said, looking directly into my eyes, "I- I wanted to say sorry for laughing at you in Potions. It was mean and I shouldn't have done it. I'm… I'm sorry."

I was genuinely speechless. After a few seconds, I replied, "Oh. Um, that's okay. I'm sorry too; you know, for hitting you."

He gave a small smile and said, "No worries." I felt a strange feeling in my stomach. We stood there looking at each other for several seconds before he said, "Well…um… goodnight."

I smiled back at him and said, "Goodnight, James." He blushed slightly; then turned and walked up to the boys' dormitories. I climbed up to my room and began getting ready for bed despite the fact that it was only 9 o'clock.

As early as I went to bed that night, I found it hard to sleep. As I lay there, staring up at the hangings of my four-poster, I wondered whether Remus might actually have a point.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Same as before, really. Keep reading, keep reviewing! Thanks to everyone._

I monitored James' behaviour closely over the next few weeks. He was still lively, loud and funny, but he was politer and kinder to other people. His pranks became less cruel, to the point where even I found them genuinely amusing (the best of these being the time he bewitched the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall to actually rain when the weather was bad – it took McGonagall at least an hour to put it right). He often apologised to his victims afterwards. He generally left Severus alone, as had I since the incident at the end of last year when he called me a Mudblood; and put more of his effort into his classes, actually taking notes and paying attention in lessons, and into training his team for the final Quidditch match of the season.

The result of the latter was that Gryffindor thumped Ravenclaw by a margin of over three hundred points, successfully retaining the Quidditch Cup. James ended the match with a spectacular catch, leaping upwards off his broom to snatch the Snitch after it changed direction unexpectedly and attempted to zoom back over his head. I felt my heart skip several beats as James barely managed to get back on his broom, clinging to it with one hand for a second before swinging himself back onto it and pelting towards the rest of his jubilant team.

A raucous party in the Gryffindor Common Room ensued, with James being the focus of a lot of attention. Most uncharacteristically, however, he took the praise rather modestly, and after a while, detached himself from a sizeable group of fervent admirers. He climbed on top of a table in the middle of the room and called for attention. Everyone went quiet and looked at him.

"Everyone, I'd just like to say a huge thank you to my brilliant team, who have not only managed to put up with me for a whole year, but have flown spectacularly the whole season. It's been a real pleasure, guys." He smiled at the team, clustered in a corner.

Sirius Black, who played Beater, sniffed loudly and said jokingly, "Someone pass me a tissue."

Everyone laughed. James smiled at his friend and continued, "At the end of this year, we shall be bidding farewell to our Keeper, Denison Frisby. He's been on our team for four years now, and has been a great asset. He leaves us to become reserve Keeper the Montrose Magpies."

There was a collective gasp, and much applause. Frisby had certainly kept that one quiet. He looked a little embarrassed, but very pleased. "We wish you well, mate, and… we've got a little something for you," continued James. He jumped down from the table and walked towards a corner. He picked up a bundle that had been lying there, unnoticed, and handed it to Frisby.

There were two objects. The first was a large and ornately framed team photo of the seven Gryffindor players. Underneath the photo was the inscription, "Denison Frisby – Gryffindor Keeper, 1973-1977". The second item was folded up, but when Frisby unfolded it, it fell out of its bundle and revealed itself to be his Quidditch robes. This was unusual, as the robes were usually kept for the player who filled the vacant position. I wondered how on earth James had managed to secure Frisby's uniform for him to keep.

"Just so you can remember your humble beginnings, you know, when you're playing for England and such," said James, jokingly. Frisby laughed and pulled James into a one-armed hug. The assembled students broke into applause again, and the party resumed. After chatting briefly to the rest of his team, James went to get himself another butterbeer from the drinks table. I went over too.

"Nice speech," I said, smiling. He smiled too.

"He'll be a great Keeper. He probably will play for England, you know," he replied. "Don't know how we're going to fill his gloves next year."

"Yeah, well, you're not too bad yourself. That was quite some catch earlier. You had us all a bit worried for a moment."

He smiled sheepishly. "I was lucky. It was a pretty stupid thing to try, now that I look back on it."

I was slightly surprised. "Since when have you been so sensible and responsible?" I asked, teasing him. But he just laughed.

"Ah well; I suppose I'd better go and pretend I'm interested in everyone else, too," he said, with a wink. "See you later." He turned and walked back to his team. I stood and watched him for a few seconds before I heard another familiar voice behind me.

"Lily and James, sitting in a tree…" it said in a sing-song voice. I turned and saw Emmeline standing there, grinning.

"Oh, shut up, Em. I'm just giving him a chance is all. You have to admit he's been more… sensible than usual, the last few weeks."

"I know," she replied, but she was still smirking. "Looks like he took what Remus said to heart."

I nodded, and then did a double-take. I had not told anyone about that. "How did you know?" She rolled her eyes in an exasperated fashion.

"Lils, I'm going out with Remus," she reminded me pointedly. "He told me. Anyway, he reckons that James has realised what a prat he was and wants to make it up to you. Seems pretty determined, mind."

I mulled over this for a while, before saying, "He's got a lot to make up for." Emmeline simply smiled knowingly.

I sipped my butterbeer in a dignified fashion, reflecting on how I felt about the new James Potter. If I was honest with myself, I found him charming, funny and intelligent. I even grudgingly admitted to myself that I enjoyed his company. The question, in my mind, was whether or not he could keep this up long-term. Although he seemed sincere, you could never tell with James Potter. This fact was demonstrated a moment later, when Denison Frisby swallowed a biscuit offered to him by his captain that caused his hair to turn bright blue. Completely oblivious to this, he was left wondering what everyone was laughing about for several minutes before James showed him a mirror, returned his hair to normal colour, and clapped him on the back, grinning. He caught my eye across the Common Room, and I grinned back.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Hi everyone :) Sorry about the long time between the last chapter and this one… I forgot to do something very important… like send the chapter to my beta :P So in return, here's two chapters all at once! O_O awesome, right? Although there might be another gap before the next chapter… cause it ain't written yet :P_

The next day was Saturday, and with only one week left of term, the workload on the sixth years had eased considerably. I therefore allowed myself a lie-in, as did most of the house, as the party of the previous night had continued into the early hours of the morning. I woke up to find my dormitory deserted, and glancing at the clock on the bedside table, I saw that it was half past eleven. It was a very long time since I had been last afforded the luxury of sleeping that late. I got dressed and headed down to the Common Room.

At first glance, the room seemed as empty as my dormitory had been, but on a closer inspection, two figures were visible over beside the fireplace. As I rubbed my still bleary eyes and they came into focus, I saw that the two people were James and Sirius. Sirius looked terrible; he was staring down at the floor, his eyes were slightly red, and the expression on his face was nothing short of murderous. James looked consoling but also angry. I wondered what on earth could have happened.

They looked up as I approached. James' expression softened as he saw me, and he greeted me with a wave; Sirius just looked back down at the floor again. I approached the two of them.

"What's up?" I asked, concerned. Whilst James and Sirius were not exactly my favourite people in the world, there was obviously something wrong, and after all, they were fellow Gryffindors.

Sirius continued his policy of attempting to bore a hole in the floor with his eyes, so James answered me, "He got a letter from his parents this morning. They say that if he doesn't change his… um… 'attitude,' he… he's not welcome in their house any more."

My mouth fell open in horror. The fact that Sirius' beliefs were, to say the least, at complete odds with those of the rest of his family was common knowledge throughout the school, especially since his brother Regulus had joined the school and immediately fallen in with the group of budding Death Eaters that held much notoriety in Hogwarts. Sirius had openly clashed with this group and his brother many times over the last four years, often violently, and it was hardly a secret that Sirius considered James, his best friend since arriving at Hogwarts, more of a brother than Regulus.

Despite all this, I found it nearly impossible to believe that anyone's parents would possibly care so little about their child that they could disown them at the tender age of sixteen. I genuinely felt sympathy for him.

"Sirius, that's… that's awful," I said in a sorrowful voice. He gave a derisive snort.

"I hate them. Their pure-blood fanaticism… it's insane! It doesn't mean anything. Having 'pure blood' doesn't make you a good person. Good people don't leave their own children with nowhere to go. What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

I did not answer; admittedly, I could not think of anything to say. James, however, looked at his best friend in surprise.

"Don't be stupid! You're staying with me!" he said, as though this should have been obvious. Sirius looked startled.

"I – what?" he said, finally looking up from the floor and into his best friend's face. "No – mate, seriously, I – I'm sure I can find somewhere…"

But James cut across him. "You're. Staying. With. Me." he said firmly. "No arguments."

Sirius was still looking shocked. "But… but what about your parents? Shouldn't you ask them first?"

"Mate, they love you," said James, waving a hand dismissively. "No problems there."

Sirius paused, then hugged James tightly. James patted him on the back and said, "Come on, let's go down to breakfast. Coming, Lily?"

"Um… guys, it's quarter to twelve. Breakfast finished over an hour ago," I said, feeling a little disappointed myself – I was actually rather hungry.

"Really?" asked James, and it was his turn to look surprised. But he recovered himself almost instantly: "Never mind then, we'll go down to the kitchens."

"You know how to get into the kitchens?" I said, torn between being disapproving and impressed. James laughed.

"Found them in first year, didn't we, Padfoot?"

"Oh, yeah," answered Sirius, who was now a great deal more animated. "The house-elves are dead helpful, too. Practically giving the food away, no questions asked." The two of them made to leave the Common Room.

I hesitated, almost in spite of myself. My prefect's instincts to obey the rules battled with the aching feeling in my stomach. My moment of indecision was not missed by James; he turned and said, "Come on, Lily; it's not as if it's the crime of the century. You coming?"

My stomach won.

"Sure," I said, grinning, and hastily followed them out into the corridor.

I followed the two Marauders downstairs, through many secret passages in all sorts of unlikely places: behind tapestries and statues, a few behind portraits like the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, and once, rather alarmingly, behind a solid wall. James and Sirius, walking slightly ahead of me, simply walked straight through the apparently substantial stone as if it were not there. I froze in shock before James stuck his head back out, said, "Should've warned you, sorry. Don't worry, it's perfectly alright," and pulled me through. I wondered how on earth they had found them all.

As James pulled open yet another tapestry and held it open for me to go in before him, I enquired, "Where are Remus and Peter, by the way?"

He chuckled before replying, "Probably still in the library. Remus being Remus, he insisted that they went to look over that new Transfiguration theory McGonagall went over last class. Peter didn't really get it."

"It was quite hard, to be fair. I had a huge headache at the end of that lesson," I said.

"Who didn't?" snorted Sirius bitterly. "Ridiculously hard, that was, and right at the end of term…"

But just then, as we were approaching the other end of the passage, Remus and Peter themselves came bursting through the tapestry, panting and out of breath.

"We'll be safe… in here…" gasped Remus, before spotting the three of us and saying, "Oh. Hello." Still winded, he lent against the wall, clutching at a stitch in his side.

"Um… what happened?" asked James, looking quite bemused.

"Regulus was in the library with a load of Death Eater buddies," said Peter, his voice even squeakier than usual to his lack of oxygen. "He was talking about the letter Sirius got this morning."

"And?" snarled Sirius, as Peter paused for breath.

"Well, they hadn't noticed that we were there, so we employed a few… interesting hexes from behind a bookshelf. Unfortunately, Snape was with them, and knew all the counter-curses for them. Then one of them spotted us, and as we left the library they followed us. The moment we were clear of the library they started running at us and firing all manner of spells… so we ran in here."

"Right," growled Sirius, and without further ado, he pulled open the tapestry.

"No!" I said, as the other three made to follow him. James, however, said, just before leaving the passage, "Trust me, it'll be good for him. Help him let off a bit of steam." Then he followed his friends through the exit. I hesitated, before dashing after him.

The Slytherins were grouped at the other end of the corridor. Regulus was already on the floor; I suspected Sirius had hexed him before they had noticed he was there. As I stepped out, both sides started firing spells at each other simultaneously, although none of the Slytherins seemed to notice my appearance. Their attention was concentrated solely on the Marauders, who were dodging spells and firing back their own with remarkable speed and agility. I surreptitiously fired spells of my own at the Slytherins, and soon we held the upper hand, despite the fact that we were outnumbered two to one.

Within minutes, half of the Slytherins were lying on the floor in various states on incapacitation. All four Marauders and I were still standing; in the noise and confusion, I was able to remain half-concealed in the tapestry while shooting spells at the Slytherins non-verbally. I felled two more of our opponents with successive spells, and a third fell just after at James' hands. Looking at the remaining combatants, I suddenly realised that among the group of budding Death Eaters was Severus. He shot a curse at James, who was aiming a spell at Rudolphus Lestrange, and did not see it coming.

I leapt out of the tapestry and yelled, "_Protego!_" James, having successfully hit Lestrange with a Stunning spell, turned in mild surprise. His astonishment, however, was nothing compared to Severus'.

"Lily!" he yelled, even as his only remaining ally fell at Sirius' hands. "What do you… what on earth are you doing with… them!" He spat out the last word, and I felt myself fill with rage. I did the only thing that made sense.

I hexed him.

Severus was lifted into the air and flew backwards into the wall. He slid down it and lay crumpled on the floor.

_A/N: Read and review! Motivate me to write that next chapter!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: See last chapter :P_

The corridor was quiet. I looked round at the Marauders, who were all staring at me in astonishment. Then James laughed and said, "Nice one. Um… thanks."

I smiled sheepishly. "No problem."

Two hours later, I found myself back in the Common Room, talking with Emmeline and Alice, recounting the tale of what had happened. The Marauders were over in the far corner, regaling a somewhat exaggerated version of the same tale to a crowd of fervent admirers. I suspected, however, that had I not assured Professor McGonagall that the Slytherins had attacked us and that we had acted in self-defence, the five of us would currently be performing various menial tasks for Argus Filch. Whilst I felt slightly guilty about lying to McGonagall, it wasn't stretching the truth that much; and besides, it had been very unfair for them to chase after Remus and Peter when it was ten on two.

After I finished my story, Emmeline and Alice looked mightily impressed. But then Emmeline smiled mischievously.

"Alice," she said, turning to her friend, "I think I might cry."

I looked at her, puzzled, and then at Alice; who said, barely containing her giggles, "I know! She broke a rule… on purpose!"

"Oh, shut up," I said, but smiled.

They both hugged me and said in unison, "We're so proud of you!" I laughed, and they released me.

"So, you hexed Snape?" said Alice. "You've finally seen the light, then?"

I took a moment before replying, "Yes. He's chosen his path, and I refuse to have anything to do with anyone who's aspiring to become involved with You-Know-Who."

It was true. I could finally say that Severus no longer meant anything to me. I had still cared a little about him even after he had called me Mudblood at the end of last year, but having actually seen him today fighting with people whom the whole school knew were budding Death Eaters, and having heard the contempt with which he spat out the word, "them," in reference to my friends, I had lost all warmth and respect I had for him.

It took me a while to realise that I now counted all four Marauders as friends. I had always had respect for Remus, of course, due to his intelligence and kind nature; and we had become close friends in fifth year, when we were both appointed Prefects. We got to know each other very well, and by the end of the year he had confided in me the secret of his 'furry little problem.' James and Sirius, on the other hand, I had disliked from when we first met on the Hogwarts Express, as they teased and bullied my then best friend. However, the changes I had observed in James over the last weeks had also extended, in part, to Sirius.

He too was no longer as arrogant or unkind, and also was more attentive to his schoolwork, with the result that I realised just how gifted the two of them were as wizards. Just last week they had engaged me in a debate about Switching Spells in the Common Room one evening, and the conversation continued for at least an hour after I would have usually gone to bed. I had never had anything particularly against Peter personally, except that he was a part of the arrogant James Potter's gang, but now that the rest of them were my friends—or at least, not enemies—by extension, that meant that Peter was too.

"Lily, are you still with us?" asked Emmeline.

"Hmm? Yes, of course," I said, startled out of my reverie, and we continued our conversation.

Later that afternoon, I went to the library to return a book I had borrowed earlier in the term, and found Remus there, just about to leave. He smiled at me as I entered and waited for me to hand my book in, and we walked back to the Common Room.

"Well," he said, "at least there are no Slytherins chasing after us this time."

I laughed and said, "True, although I have to admit… earlier was rather fun, wasn't it?" causing his mouth to twitch in amusement.

"Lily Evans, enjoying fights in the school corridors…" he teased. "Whatever would McGonagall say?"

"It's your fault, you know!" I quipped back. "You and the others have been a bad influence on me."

"True, but as bad as we've been for you, you've certainly improved James a bit. To tell you the truth, even I found him extremely arrogant at times, but he accepted me for who I am, rather than what I am. But it's been much nicer, since… you know."

I did not say anything. It was true, but we had not talked about the incident in Potions or Remus' discussion with James since it had happened. Remus seemed to notice my discomfort.

"I'm sorry," he said hurriedly. "I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"No, it's okay," I reassured him. "It's just that… a part of me still thinks this is just for show. You know, that this isn't the real him."

"Understandable," admitted Remus, "but I genuinely think he realised what a prat he was."

"If that is the case, then you, my friend, are a miracle worker," I joked.

We walked on in silence for a minute or two before Remus asked, "Lily, what do you think of James right now, the way he's being at the moment? Honestly?"

I considered before replying, "I… discounting all previous experience and pretending as if I'd only just met him today… I really like him, actually. He's much funnier now that he's become less arrogant and mean; and he's kind and intelligent and… why, what are you implying?" I suddenly asked shrewdly, for I had just caught out of the corner of my eye a suspiciously triumphant grin on Remus' face.

"Oh, nothing," he said airily, but I did not for one second believe him. I knew exactly what he had been implying.

"I do _not_ fancy him," I stated bluntly. "I still have too many reasons to hate him. I've just put those aside for the time being. It's like you said; I'm giving him a chance, that's all." There was a finality in my voice that ensured Remus would not pursue the subject any further.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: It seems that I'm making a lot of apologies while writing this story… Personal events and huge workload over the last couple of months have meant that I haven't had time for writing, nor have I been in the mood to do so anyway. In an attempt to forget about all that, however, I'm going to press on with this story and hope to have it finished by the end of the Christmas break. Thank you to all who have read, reviewed, and kept their patience with my infrequent updates, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. _

The following Thursday evening found me attempting to track down the last few of my possessions to return to my trunk before travelling back to London on the Hogwarts Express the following day. Emmeline and Alice, who had already finished packing, were sitting on the ends of their beds, watching me impatiently.

"Hurry up, Lils, there's only half an hour till the feast!" said Alice, checking her watch.

"Yep, I'm just coming," I replied, crawling towards her to look under her bed. "Just as soon as I've found… aha!" I pulled out a book from underneath the four-poster, directed my wand at it to remove the dust, and then lobbed it across the room into my trunk. With another wave of my wand, the lid of my trunk slammed shut, and I sprang to my feet. "Let's go!"

"About bloody time," grumbled Emmeline as we left the dormitory.

In our first year, Emmeline and Alice had found me sitting next to my trunk on the last day of term looking extremely depressed. I would miss Hogwarts over the summer holidays, and I knew it. To cheer me up, they had taken me for a final walk around the grounds before going to the end-of-term feast. Now, it had become a tradition for us. It had been fulfilled every year since.

Five minutes later, we walked out of the Entrance Hall and into the grounds. It was still quite light, as it was the middle of June and only a few minutes past six o'clock, and we could see a long way down the lawns to the lake, Hagrid's hut, and the Forbidden Forest. I sighed, and Emmeline and Alice both looked at me.

"It's been an eventful year," I said.

"You can say that again," sniggered Alice. "It's been an eventful last few weeks, come to that." I couldn't help agreeing. So much had changed over the past month or so that it felt almost like a whole year in itself.

We walked slowly down the lawns, talking animatedly and remembering the various happenings of the past school year. We went and visited Hagrid, who greeted us jovially and offered us some of his infamous rock cakes. Making the excuse that it would spoil our appetite for the feast we left his hut and walked around the perimeter of the forest, finally coming to rest at the edge of the lake. We lay down on the grass, looking up into the sky, and continuing our reminiscing of the past year.

Somewhat inevitably, talk eventually turned to the changes in James Potter's behaviour over the last few weeks. I endured my friends' gentle ribbing for a few minutes in an amused, albeit dignified, fashion, before finally saying, "Look, I admit it, okay? He's been a really nice guy lately."

"Better than the Giant Squid?" interrupted Emmeline, and both she and Alice fought to contain their laughter.

"Erm… what?" I said, confused.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the Giant Squid!" imitated Alice, and I remembered what they were referring to. I grinned myself.

"Yes, I'd say he is now preferable to the Giant Squid," I admitted. Knowing that the other two would get the wrong impression, I added hastily, "But I don't fancy him!"

Soon it was time to head back inside for the feast. We slowly got to our feet, just as we heard another group of people heading across the grounds. As I stood up, I heard one of them calling across the grounds, "Hey, Lily!"

I turned, but lost my balance and fell over. The next thing I knew, I was rolling down the banks of the lake; then, all of a sudden, I was in the water. Despite the relative warmth of the air, the water was cold, and it was surprisingly dark underneath the surface. After several seconds of confusion I finally managed to pull my head above the water, and looked towards the bank. Alice and Emmeline were standing there, looking shocked, and next to them stood James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. I barely had time to register this, however, when I felt a long, slimy tentacle wrap around my neck and begin to pull me under the water again. I screamed, and consequently inhaled a large amount of water, as my head fell beneath the surface once more.

I heard the sounds of Emmeline and Alice screaming and the boys yelling, strangely muffled by the water pressing down on me. I was still being pulled by the tentacle around my neck and I couldn't breathe. I flailed and struggled, but it retained a vice-like grip around my windpipe, forever pulling me through the water.

Suddenly I heard a splash above me, and a jet of sparks hit the tentacle around my neck. It released me at once and a second later I felt someone take hold of my hand and pull me towards the surface. Our heads broke the water at the same time and I gasped for air, hearing the person next to me breathing heavily too. I looked around, and saw James, the black hair that usually stuck up everywhere plastered to the side of his face, and a look of near panic on his face. He pulled me towards the bank and we climbed slowly onto firm ground, coughing and spluttering.

"Lily! LILY! Are you alright?" yelled Alice, crouching down and extending a hand to help pull me up the bank.

"I… yeah… fine," I panted, looking around. James was a few feet away, scrambling around on the floor looking for something. I realised that he wasn't wearing his glasses; he must have dropped them before he entered the water. I glanced down and noticed them lying next to me. I picked them up and handed them to him. He muttered a word of thanks, and we both got to our feet.

"Are you alright?" said Remus to both of us, pulling out his wand and waving it towards us. I felt my hair dry instantly, my clothes become warm and comfortable again, and the water disappeared from my face and hands.

"Yes," I replied, having finally caught my breath. I looked round at James and said, slightly sheepishly, "Thank you, James."

He looked up at me, and gave a small smile. "You sure you're OK?"

I smiled back. "Fine, thanks."

We stood in silence for a few moments, holding each other's gaze for a little longer than was necessary. We suddenly both realised that the others were still there and looked away hurriedly, both turning slightly red. I could feel Alice and Emmeline sharing a look behind me.

After a short silence, Remus said, "We'd better head back inside – the feast…" We all agreed, and the group began to walk slowly back to the castle, the Marauders leading the way, followed by Emmeline, Alice and me.

"I think he's jealous," whispered Emmeline.

"Jealous? Who are you talking about?" I asked, puzzled.

"The squid, of course!" said Emmeline, with the hint of a smile. "I mean, you've always preferred him to James, but maybe he heard us talking…"

I gave a small chuckle, and looked ahead at the Marauders ahead of us. They didn't seem to be talking much, but as Remus looked across to address Sirius, I saw a smile on his face. Then James looked round at me, caught my eye, and gave me a smile and a small wink. As he turned back towards the castle, I felt a strange lurching feeling in my stomach.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Because I haven't said it for a while, I just thought I'd remind you all that AnnaSmiles, my beta, is awesome! And Merry Christmas to you all!_

As the Hogwarts Express began to pull out of Hogsmeade station the following day, I twisted my neck around for my last view of Hogwarts before returning in September. The train began to build up speed and after a view seconds the castle, the station, and the waving form of Hagrid were sliding out of view. I turned back around to face my friends, and Alice quickly challenged me to a game of chess.

After a relatively uneventful hour, I began to grow bored of the continuous chess games between myself, Alice, and Emmeline, and so, as the latter two began yet another game, I climbed back up off the floor and onto a seat by the window. I stared out at the countryside zooming past for a short while, barely noticing the noises of friendly banter, issued commands, and pieces beating each other up behind me. Then, growing restless again, I reached up to my trunk, opened it, and pulled out a book. This didn't keep me occupied for long either; I was unable to concentrate, no doubt due to the sound of the battle being fought behind me, which grew steadily louder as it neared its completion. I closed my book, sighed loudly, and placed it down on the seat next to me, just as Emmeline executed her final move with a flourish, trapping Alice's king on the back rank with her two rooks.

"Beginner's luck," grumbled Alice, scowling at the small pile of her pieces at the edge of the board.

"Not my fault you fell for that fork and lost your queen," retorted Emmeline smugly. "It was pretty obvious, you know."

Alice, still with an annoyed expression on her face, turned instead to look at me. "Lils, do us all a favour, and come and beat Emmeline before she starts getting too full of herself."

However, I simply smiled faintly and said, "No, thanks."

My two friends looked at me in surprise. I'd never been one to turn down a game of chess.

"What's up, Lil?" asked Emmeline, concern in her voice.

"Honestly, it's nothing. I'm just a little tired; that's all," I replied, hoping that this would suffice as an excuse.

It didn't.

"Come on, you've been quiet since yesterday evening. We're your best friends; you can't have expected us not to notice," pressed Emmeline.

"You can tell us, you know, Lily. Whatever it is," Alice chipped in.

"Truth be told, I'm not even sure what's wrong," I said, resigning myself to the fact that they wouldn't leave me alone before I gave some sort of explanation. "I can't concentrate on anything; I feel restless all the time; I'm constantly wanting to do something but I don't know what; and after a while I just keep getting bored and want to do something else." Having spoken everything that was on my mind, I lapsed into silence for a moment, before concluding, "Like I said, I'm probably just tired." I went back to staring out of the window.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my two friends looking each other. As far as I could tell, they were restraining themselves from giggling, but I had no idea what they found amusing. I saw Alice making a gesture in my general direction, followed by Emmeline shaking her head. She then addressed me, saying, "Look, it's nearly lunch time. We'll go and get some food from the trolley and bring it back, that'll cheer you up a bit! Okay?"

"Okay," I said, smiling at her, but still wondering what it was they had communicated to each other without words in the seconds before. As they left the compartment, the door sliding shut behind them, I made my decision. I gave them a couple of seconds headstart, then slid the compartment door back open, pulling out my wand and looking left and right down the corridor. After seeing them heading towards the front of the train on my right, I cast a charm I had invented myself last year, inspired by one of Severus' charms that was used to prevent eavesdropping. My version did the exact opposite.

Feeling slightly guilty for spying on my friends, I whispered, "_Amplificato!_" I immediately heard Alice's voice, as clear as though she were speaking right next to me.

"Don't you think we should say something to her?" she asked.

Still looking down the corridor, I saw Emmeline shake her head. Through the charm, I heard her reply, "She'll know soon enough, and it's better she figures it out for herself." Then the two moved into the next carriage, out of sight, and the charm broke.

Thoroughly bewildered, I returned to my seat in our compartment. I had absolutely no idea what they had interpreted my behaviour to mean, but they obviously thought it was significant. I was certain that I was just tired, or that it was perhaps a feeling brought on by the end of term. Surely there was nothing unusual or even remotely interesting about any of it. I began to gaze out over the countryside again, deep in thought.

About a minute later, the compartment door opened; I looked round, expecting to see Alice and Emmeline carrying armfuls of Pumpkin Pasties, but it wasn't them. It was James. For some reason, I felt the same lurching feeling in my stomach I had done last night after he had pulled me out of the lake. I was also inexplicably nervous.

"Hi," I said, slightly breathlessly. As I said this, I looked behind him, out into the carriage, for any sign of the other Marauders. They weren't there. "Where are the others?"

"Went to get food," he replied. "I just fancied a bit of a wander round, to be honest…Bit restless. Where are Alice and Emmeline?"

"Same, getting food," I said. We looked at each other for a few seconds before I said, slightly awkwardly, "Um… why don't you sit down?"

He grinned and sat. Another moment or two passed in silence before he said, "Got much planned for the summer?"

"Not really," I replied. "Mostly I'll just be glad of the rest. It's been an eventful year. Mum and Dad might have stuff planned though; a few days away in the country, maybe. How about you?"

He chuckled. "Oh, it's going to be a right laugh with Sirius around too. Can't wait! If nothing else, I'll have to keep him busy to keep his mind off his family," he said with a slightly grim expression, before continuing, "but I'm sure he'll be alright."

Our conversation continued for another minute or two before the door slid open again, and this time it really was Alice and Emmeline, bearing large amounts of food. They stopped short at the sight of me and James in lively conversation.

"Oh, hi, James!" said Emmeline, in a very cheery fashion. I stared at her.

"Oh… hi," said James, looking a little put out. "Um… well, I'll leave you guys alone then…"

"You don't have to go," I said, feeling the words coming out before I could stop them. Everyone looked at me, and I felt myself blushing slightly.

James looked at me for a second before saying, "Nah, it's alright. If I'm lucky, there'll be some food waiting for me in my compartment too. See you later, Lily."

"Yeah… see you," I said, smiling at him as he left. Alice and Emmeline stood aside to let him past, and the door closed behind him. I watched it for a few seconds, forgetting that the other two were there; that is, until they both burst out laughing.

Starting slightly, I watched them, a little annoyed, as they sat down opposite me. "Honestly, what is it with you two?" I asked irritably.

"Haven't figured it out yet?" giggled Emmeline. I stared, completely clueless as to what she meant.

"Figured _what _out?" I snapped.

"You fancy James!" the two of them chorused.

I opened my mouth to issue my usual denial to this statement; but for some reason, it wouldn't come out. I sat with my mouth open for a few seconds, causing yet more laughter from the two girls opposite me. I shut it, and then I opened my mouth again; and this time, my attempt at speech was successful.

"Oh, bollocks."

_A/N: Please review! ^_^_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: A somewhat belated Happy New Year to you all! Unfortunately, my beta's computer has died. In an attempt to keep updates to the story at least vaguely frequent, I'm publishing this chapter unbeta-ed (is that a word? :s) so it may not be as accurate as usual; the spellin mae be al rong and stuf. Hope you enjoy it anyway! :P_

For the rest of the journey, I sat in silence, in something of a state of inner turmoil. How on earth could this be possible? A few short weeks ago, I had been furious with James to the point of hitting him around the face and bursting into tears. Yet now here I was, unable to issue an honest denial to the accusation that had become more and more frequent recently: that I fancied him. How on earth had things come to this?

Admittedly, James had changed. He was no longer the boy who was arrogant, rude, and cruel; no longer the one who dated countless girls yet still pestered me to go out with him; no longer the irresponsible student who seemed more intent on bringing havoc to the castle and humiliation to its inhabitants – or at least, some of them. Particularly those with the Slytherin colours adorning their robes. No, he was none of those things any more. He had certainly changed.

What worried and, in fact, slightly scared me was the fact that these changes had happened exclusively over the past month or so. How in the name of Merlin could I have fallen so quickly? Nearly six solid years spent hating him, and, in a span of time that is a mere blink of an eye in comparison, my feelings had turned on their head, and I suddenly fancied him.

Inwardly, I compared how I felt about James to how I had felt about other boys that I had fancied or dated during my Hogwarts career. I had certainly received my fair share of notice from boys in the castle, both from within Gryffindor Tower and from those outside it. I had gone out with two boys – well, technically three, but the first couldn't really have been called a proper relationship. It happened in my fourth year, when Sam Harwood, a Hufflepuff boy in my Herbology class, had asked me out, with much stammering and blushing. I had agreed, mainly because I did not want to offend him by saying no; but I had not the slightest idea what going out with a boy entailed. The following week and a half were spent with the two of us so embarrassed around each other that we hardly even spoke, until I had the courage to tell him I didn't think it was working out. He agreed, and we went back to being perfectly good friends, as before.

Only one of my other two relationships had fared much better. The first was with a Ravenclaw student, again in the same year as me, and consisted of one ill-advised date on a Hogsmeade weekend, which caused me not only to end the relationship before it had even got going, but also to resolve to never enter Madame Puddifoot's teashop again for as long as I lived. My most recent and so far most successful boyfriend had been Paul Thorogood, a Gryffindor in the year above. This had lasted for about six weeks or so in my fifth year, but we broke up after he had confronted me about the amount of time I spent revising for my OWL's when I should have been spending it with him. I had gathered from this that he was a lot more serious about our relationship than I was, so decided it would be kinder to break it off then before leading him along any further.

I had fancied several other boys too; it is inevitable, really, when you have several hundred hormone-driven teenagers together in a castle that there will be at least one member of the opposite sex you find deeply attractive at almost any given time. These included the typical teenager crush on boys I'd never even spoken to, but had also been directed at a few people somewhat closer to me, briefly even close friends such as Remus. Of course, he had then started going out with Emmeline, and although I slightly resented this, I didn't show it, and got over it soon enough.

I rapidly came to the conclusion that I certainly did not feel the same about James as I had about anyone else. There was something different, completely unfamiliar to me, and slightly intimidating. I brooded on this for some time, but as we changed into Muggle clothing and the train neared King's Cross Station, I decided that I couldn't possibly fancy James. It was such an unfamiliar feeling, and after all, I knew what fancying someone felt like.

Trying to convince myself that this somewhat shaky conclusion made absolute sense, I ignored Alice and Emmeline's sideways glances, responding only half-heartedly to their attempts to draw me into conversation, until the train gradually shuddered to a halt in Platform 9 ¾. I lifted my trunk down from the luggage rack and stepped off the train. I turned around to pull my trunk after me, but before I could do so, someone came up beside me, lifted the trunk up off the train and set it down gently next to me. I looked around, and saw James. He was grinning at me.

_You do NOT fancy him_, said a firm voice inside me.

Politely, I said, "Thank you, James," giving him a small smile, but turning away quickly. I pulled my trunk towards Alice and Emmeline, who were waiting for me just in front of the barrier. They were smirking once again, but I ignored this, instead leading them to back of the queue of students waiting to return to the Muggle world.

As we exited the barrier a few moments later, I looked around and caught sight of my mother standing waiting for me. I ran towards her, as fast as I could whilst still dragging my heavy trunk behind me, and threw my arms around her.

"Hello," she smiled as I released her. "Good term?"

"Very," I said, beaming back. "Dad not here?"

"No, he had to go into work for a meeting," she replied. "He sends his love, and he insists you come and talk his ear off this evening and tell him all about your term."

I smiled, and hesitantly asked, "And… Tuney?"

Mum's face fell slightly, and she said, "Sorry, Lily. You know how she is about… well, everything, really." Recovering herself, she said, "Well, why don't you go and say goodbye to your friends, and then we'll be off."

Nodding, I left Mum and the trunk and went off in search of Alice and Emmeline. After wishing them a good holiday, brief chats with their parents and hugs with both of them, I began heading back to where Mum was standing, waving to several people along the way. As I neared her, I heard someone calling out my name.

Turning, I once again saw James. I waited for him to catch up to me.

"Hi," he said. Once again, he was alone. "Um… have a good summer, yeah?"

I smiled at him, and said, "Thanks, you too."

He appeared to hesitate slightly, then moved forward and hugged me. I stiffened very slightly and very briefly before hugging him back. After holding the embrace for a few moments, we released each other. He was grinning again.

"See you then," he said.

"Bye," I replied, and he turned and walked back through the crowd. It took me a moment to realise that I was still staring after him; I turned and walked back to Mum.

"Who was that boy?" she asked, looking interested.

"James," I replied evenly, grabbing hold of the trolley Mum had got for my trunk and pulling it towards the exit.

"James? James Potter? I thought he was the one you completely hated." She sounded slightly confused.

"He's… changed," I said vaguely, as we reached the car and I began hoisting my trunk into the boot. As Mum moved round to help me, she chuckled unexpectedly.

"Oh, _changed_, has he?" she said, and looking up, I saw a very knowing look in her eyes.

"Yes, changed," I said firmly. Still smiling, she walked away to return the trolley and I got into the car, pondering my mother's reaction.

Was I really that obvious?

_A/N: Thanks for reading, and virtual hugs for all people who review! :)_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Fairly insubstantial, this chapter, but sets things up nicely for the next one, which will be posted soon. Beta is still computer-less, so please be tolerant with any mistakes there are! ^_^ _

I did my best not to think about James in the first week or so of the summer holidays. I didn't mention anything about him to my father that evening when regaling him with the tales of what had happened at Hogwarts this term; I didn't say anything more about him to Mum; and obviously I couldn't say anything to Tuney, who by now detested Hogwarts, magic and anything to do with either of them, including me. This was a constant source of distress for me over the holidays, but it turned out that it wasn't going to be as much of a problem this summer. Mum and Dad told me that Tuney was going out with a boy from Smeltings, the boarding school in the countryside a couple of miles out from our village. It appeared that she was spending most of her time with him, and not at our house; no doubt she was afraid of what he might think of me if he found out that I was a witch. Whilst in some small part happy for her, my overwhelming feelings were hurt and anger that she was so embarrassed of me.

Mum and Dad had indeed planned a short holiday in the countryside near the beginning of the holidays; about a week after term had finished, we set off for the Forest of Dean, where we camped for three nights. I brought some schoolwork with me, partly to keep myself occupied, and partly to keep myself distracted from Tuney's endless prattling about her boyfriend Vernon during the short time she was separated from him. Mainly, however, my work kept me from dwelling overly on James. This had proved an effective strategy so far, but it had two large flaws. Firstly, I could not work all the time, and so I was still prone to thinking about him for large periods of time, if ever I got distracted, or when I was lying awake at night, staring at the canvas of the tent. Secondly, this tactic was being over-used, and I was running out of homework.

I did not know why I was so keen on avoiding thinking about James at first, but shortly after I completed my final holiday assignment, two and a half weeks into the holidays, I found out. I couldn't stop thinking about him, and this was extremely frustrating. Though I hated to admit it, I missed him more than I thought possible; I missed the shy little grins we occasionally shared, and how I would catch him looking at me and vice versa across the Gryffindor Common Room. I missed hearing his laugh, and how he could make me laugh. I also felt slightly guilty, as I missed him more than anything else, even my best friends.

It was reflecting on this that I realised just how obvious my behaviour had been to any casual observer. The number of times James and I could catch each other's gaze across a crowded room could not be called coincidental. I could see now why Alice, Emmeline, and even Remus had hinted at my feelings for James for weeks before I myself realised it. My main concern, however, was that if everyone else had noticed, surely James might have done as well? Did he know I fancied him?

After a week of brooding in my room and being distant with my family, I woke up one morning to the sound of tapping on my bedroom window. Turning over to look, I saw Alice's owl, Marty, sitting on the window ledge. I climbed laboriously out of bed and let him in. He fluttered into the room and perched himself on the back of my desk chair. Stroking his beak absently, I untied the letter and sat down on my bed to read it.

_Lily,_

_Why don't you stop brooding over James for a bit and come over to my place for a week?_

I paused here, frowning; mostly I was annoyed because it was true. Sometimes, Alice's ability to know exactly what I was thinking could be very irritating sometimes.

_Em's coming too; she's arriving this Saturday and staying the week. Come on, it'll be fun! We can talk about all our usual topics… like boys… and you can bore us all about how much you love James and we can mercilessly take the mickey. _

_You know you want to. Send Marty back with response._

_Look forward to seeing you on Saturday,_

_Alice xxx_

My frown had turned into a smile as I read the letter. Alice's sense of humour never failed to cheer me up. Picking up a quill and a piece of parchment from the stack on my desk, I scrawled back my response.

_Alice,_

_Come on, I've hardly been thinking about him at all!_

… _I may as well have put an invisibility cloak over that, cause you're going to see right through it._

_Oh all right then, I've been brooding A TINY LITTLE BIT. Not much, I swear._

_I'd love to come to yours for the week though. I'll tell you all about my brooding then, if you really want._

_See you Saturday!_

_Love,_

_Lily xxx_

I walked across the room to my trunk, took an Owl Treat out of a bag in my trunk, and fed it to Marty, who swallowed it and hooted happily. I did not have my own owl, but kept a bag in my room. Both Marty and Emmeline's owl Uxor visited frequently enough over the holidays that the treats were never wasted. Tying my response to Marty's length, I carried him to the window and he took off. I watched him flying over the rooftops until he disappeared from view, then went downstairs to tell Mum the arrangements. I found her in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables for lunch. She looked around as I entered.

"Hello, Lily, dear," she said, looking at me searchingly. "Everything alright?"

She had been very concerned for my welfare so far this summer, probably because I spent so much time in my room, generally avoiding contact with anyone else. Usually the only times I left were to use the bathroom and at mealtimes. Even then, when eating lunch or dinner with the rest of the family, I was quiet, only speaking when directly spoken to.

I smiled at her in response. "Fine, thanks, Mum. Is it okay if I go to Alice's on Saturday? She's asked if I can stay the week."

"Yes, of course," Mum smiled back. I imagined she was so quick to agree because she hoped it would cheer me up. As she turned back to the carrots she was chopping, she said, "Tuney will be staying at a friend's for some of that week too, so your father and I will have the house to ourselves." Even from this angle I could see a mischievous smile on her face and a glint in her eye.

I hurriedly thanked her and left the room, deciding it was better for my sanity if the conversation ended there.

_A/N: Please keep the reviews coming, they make me happy. :D_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Fun fact – this is the longest chapter of the story so far! Just thought you'd like to know. As requested, a bit more L/J development here – even more to come in the next chapter!_

At eleven o'clock in the morning on the following Saturday, I was lying on my bed reading a book – or at least, trying to, whilst simultaneously ignoring the distracting thoughts of James that kept trying to worm into my head. It was during one such state of non-concentration that I was shaken out of my stupor by the sound of the doorbell ringing. I leapt off my bed energetically, and put the book in the huge open rucksack at the end of my bed, which held the things I would need for my week at Alice's house. I heard the front door being opened, followed by Mum's voice.

"Hello, Alice," she said cheerfully. "How are you?"

"Fine thanks, Mrs. Evans," replied Alice. "Lily here?"

"She's upstairs, I'll just call her down. Would you like to stay for a while, or do you have to dash off?"

"We need to go to Em's house, I'm afraid, her parents are expecting us in about an hour, and it'll take us that long to get there," said Alice.

"No problem," said Mum, before calling up the stairs, "LILY! Alice is here!"

"Coming!" I responded, running down the stairs as fast as I could whilst carrying the heavy rucksack. I deposited it at the bottom of the stairs and dashed to hug Alice.

"Hey Lils," she said, laughing at my enthusiasm. I stood back and beamed at her. Turning to Mum, I said, "Everything okay, then?"

She nodded, smiling. "Well, I suppose you girls had better be off. Have a good time!" She walked forward and hugged me, saying, "Bye, love. See you next Saturday." She kissed me on the cheek, and helped me hoist the rucksack onto my back.

"Bye, Mrs Evans," said Alice, leading me towards the front door. I followed her outside, waving at Mum as I closed the door behind us.

The first couple of days at Alice's house passed almost exactly as I had expected them to; we spent the daytime playing various games or exploring the Muggle village in which Alice's house was situated, and the nights talking about anything and everything, into the early hours of the morning. As Alice had said in her letter, the main topic of conversation was, of course, boys. Predictably enough, most of this revolved around Emmeline and Alice questioning and teasing me mercilessly about James.

"So, come on then, Lily. Out with it," said Alice, just after the lights had been turned out, the first night we were there.

"With what?" I grinned, feigning ignorance. I wasn't going to make it easy for them.

"James, of course!" said Emmeline, impatiently.

"Not much to tell, really," I said, truthfully. "I mean, obviously I haven't seen him since the end of term, so…"

"Have you written to him?" asked Alice.

"No," I replied.

"Has _he_ written to _you_?" said Emmeline slyly.

"No!" I repeated. "I haven't had any contact with him since the end of term!"

"Oh," said Alice, sounding very disappointed. "How come?"

"Well, why should I have done?" I demanded.

"Because you _fancy_ him, Lils," said Emmeline, and I could almost see her rolling her eyes.

"So?" I said, thankful that it was dark, and they couldn't see me blushing. The truth was, I had been on the point of writing to James a number of times, but could not work out how to express myself in a way that didn't seem to make my feelings really obvious to him. "I don't see why that means I should write to him. I mean, I've only recently become friends with him, and I don't really know him that well."

"True," admitted Alice, "but you're going to have to put in some effort if you want to change that, aren't you?"

Before I could reply, Emmeline smirked, "Blatantly not true, she's just been too busy brooding about him to actually put the effort into writing a letter!" I threw my pillow across the room at her, and the three of us erupted into fits of giggles and a furious pillow fight.

On Tuesday morning, the three of us awoke to the sound of Alice's mum knocking at the bedroom door.

"Letters from Hogwarts are here! They're on the table waiting for you," she said.

"Thanks, Mum," Alice called back sleepily.

A few minutes later, we entered the kitchen to find three envelopes to find three envelopes lying on the table. Alice reached them first and threw mine across to me. I caught it and slit it open. Expecting to just see the usual reminder about term beginning on September 1st, I received a shock as I read the first line.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_I am delighted to inform you that you have been appointed Head Girl for the current academic year._

I let out a shriek, and Alice and Emmeline jumped and looked at me in alarm.

"I'm Head Girl!" I said delightedly, waving my letter at them.

Alice rolled her eyes and said, "Course you are. Who else was it going to be?" Both her and Emmeline then laughed and hugged me. I read the rest of the letter. It outlined the duties I would have to perform, told me that I would have my own private room rather than sleeping in Gryffindor Tower ("Cool!" said Alice; both she and Emmeline were reading over my shoulder), and told me to make sure I was in the front carriage of the Hogwarts Express at eleven o'clock on September 1st, to give the prefects their instructions. Reaching the bottom of the letter, I read the last line:

_If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me. The Head Boy will be James Potter._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Prof M. McGonagall_

My mouth fell open. I was stunned. After a few seconds, I said, "_James_ is Head Boy?"

Emmeline, who had been buttering herself toast, dropped the knife onto her plate with a clatter and hastily moved around me to read it for herself.

"Wow," she said, grinning. "Even McGonagall is trying to get you two together!"

As I opened my mouth to utter a witty retort (although admittedly none had come to mind), an unfamiliar barn owl landed on the outside windowsill and began tapping to come in. I moved past Emmeline to open the window. The owl landed on the table and held out its leg, to which a letter was attached. I saw that it had my name on it, scrawled in an unfamiliar hand, and moved to pick it up. It read,

_Dear Lily,_

_James here. Congratulations! Well, obviously, everyone knew you were going to be Head Girl. Definitely did not see myself as Head Boy though! Thought it would be Remus for sure… Not sure exactly what Dumbledore's playing at to be honest, but he probably has his reasons. I hope he knows what he's doing._

_Sirius and I were going to go into Diagon Alley tomorrow, to get all our books and stuff. Want to meet us there? I think Remus is asking Emmeline to meet him there too, so you won't have to put up with just us all the time!_

_Hope to see you tomorrow,_

_James  
x_

I stared momentarily at the tiny _x_ at the bottom of his letter, feeling slightly light-headed. Then I looked up at the other two.

"Em, I think Remus is going to be asking you to meet him in Diagon Alley tomorrow," I said, smirking.

"What makes you say…" began Emmeline, but just at that moment, another owl flew through the kitchen, and this time I recognised it as belonging to Remus. It settled down beside James' owl, which hooted in greeting. Emmeline looked from the owl to me.

"Lily, I swear you dropped Divination a year ago," she said, confused.

I laughed, and said, "It's from James," indicating the second letter I had received.

"Ooh!" said Alice, whirling round and attempting to snatch it out of my hands. I was too quick, though, and held it out of her reach.

"Aww, come one, Lils…" she moaned.

"No," I said firmly, but grinning nonetheless. "He says he and Sirius are going to be in Diagon Alley tomorrow as well, though, and wondered if I wanted to meet up with them." Alice squealed with delight.

"He _blatantly_ fancies you…" she teased.

I simply smiled, and said, "So, shall we all go tomorrow, then?"

The other two agreed. I grabbed a piece of parchment and quill lying on the table, and wrote back a response to James.

_James,_

_Don't worry! I'm sure you're going to be a great Head Boy. Congratulations to you too, I think you really deserve it._

_I'd love to meet you in Diagon Alley tomorrow; I'm at Alice's house with Emmeline this week, and Em just got her owl from Remus. So yeah, we're all going. Shall we meet you in the Leaky Cauldron, say at about eleven?_

_See you tomorrow,_

_Lily_

I hesitated for a second, then added a small '_x_' after my name, as he had done. I tied the letter to the barn owl's leg, and watched it fly out of the window. My eyes drifted back to James' letter, and rested again on the cross after his signature. After a few seconds, I tore my eyes away, folded the letter and put it in my pocket, then busied myself with making breakfast.

_A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Free virtual hugs for all reviewers ^_^_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: Sorry this took a while! It was a pretty difficult chapter to write, but I'm quite happy with it now it's done. Hope you enjoy!_

I didn't sleep very well that night. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, long after our discussions had finished and Alice and Emmeline had fallen asleep. I attempted to convince myself that it was just the numerous events of the day running through my mind, and the excitement of being made Head Girl; but deep down, I knew that really I was just nervous about our trip to Diagon Alley; nervous about seeing James.

Only four or five hours after I finally fell asleep, we were once again awoken by Alice's mum knocking on the door.

"Breakfast's ready, girls. It's half past nine, so you've got about an hour and a half before Flooing to the Leaky Cauldron." The three of us slowly got out of bed, and went downstairs to eat, yawning and stretching as we went. I followed behind the other two, not feeling particularly hungry; the butterflies in my stomach seemed to have intensified overnight.

Thoughts of James continued to preoccupy me while we were getting ready, and what he would think of me was my main concern. I wanted to look good, but was also wary of appearing to be trying too hard. I therefore settled for clothes that were relatively simple – a plain green t-shirt, which matched the colour of my eyes, and blue denim jeans – and a few touches of discrete make-up. Surveying myself critically in the mirror, I thought I looked casual, but quite pretty. I hoped James felt the same.

I had been so absorbed in getting ready that I had barely paid the other two a moment's attention. As I was examining my reflection, however, Emmeline came up behind me and looked at my image in the mirror too.

"Lily, I think you look absolutely lovely, but I doubt that it's for my benefit," she said, smirking. "But frankly, I think James would probably say you looked great if you turned up not wearing anything. Come to think of it…" I frowned, as Alice laughed.

About an hour later, I stepped out of the fire in the Leaky Cauldron, and immediately heard someone calling my name in greeting. I looked, and saw James, grinning broadly at me. His hazel eyes shone out from behind his glasses, and he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt that gave him a casually elegant look, despite his typically untidy hair, and also, I noted, revealed rather muscled and powerful arms. I swallowed hard; he seemed to have become even more handsome and attractive in the few weeks since I had last seen him.

He walked forwards confidently and embraced me. I hugged back tightly, holding him for a second or two longer than the occasion warranted, and only breaking apart when Alice stepped out of the fire behind me. Emmeline arrived a few moments later, and immediately ran over to Remus, who had been standing chatting to Sirius. It was lucky Remus noticed Emmeline a second before she reached him, or she would have completely bowled him over.

James, who was also watching the two of them, chuckled, and then turned back to me. "Good summer so far?"

"Not bad, thanks," I said, smiling back at him, and resisting the mad urge to tell him that he had been on my mind for the entire duration of the holidays so far. "You?"

He laughed. "It's been a right laugh with Sirius around," he replied, throwing an arm around his best friend, who had wandered over from where Emmeline and Remus stood.

"Speak for yourself," said Sirius in a mock-annoyed voice, ruining the effect by grinning broadly. They both laughed.

As James and Sirius continued chatting with me and Alice, I glanced briefly at Emmeline and Remus. They were still standing a few metres away from us, but were now whispering urgently to each other, with an air of great excitement. I was immediately suspicious, particularly when I saw Emmeline glance over in my direction, realise I was looking, and then look hurriedly back at Remus again. A second later, the two of them came over to where the four of us were standing.

"We're going to Fortescue's," said Emmeline matter-of-factly. "Why don't we meet you later in Flourish and Blotts at about midday, and we can all buy our new books together?"

As we all agreed to this, I saw Remus give Sirius a meaningful look, which was returned with a slight nod. Whilst growing ever more aware that there was something going on, I made no comment on this as we headed into Diagon Alley. After we passed through the concealed archway into the street, Remus and Emmeline left the group, heading left, and the rest of us walked right.

"I need to go to Gringotts," I said, checking my purse as we walked along, and seeing that there was hardly anything in there.

"Oh yeah, me too!" said James quickly. I looked at him in slight surprise, but he appeared completely unfazed, and looked around at the other two. "Either of you need to come?"

"Nah, I'm fine, mate," replied Sirius, grinning. "How about you, Alice?"

"Um…" she said, likewise opening her purse to check its contents. "Yeah, I think I'd better…"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James frown, and Sirius roll his eyes in amused exasperation. I had a funny feeling I knew what was behind the suspicious behaviour of the others now.

"Oh, hang on a minute… Yeah, I'm fine, actually," said James distractedly, as we approached the great marble building. "You two go on in, we'll wait outside."

As Alice and I walked out of the bank and into the dazzling sunlight twenty minutes later, we saw the two boys standing a few metres away, having a whispered and urgent conversation. They stopped quickly as we approached them, and James asked where we should go next.

Sirius promptly said, "Alice, why don't we go and get the new equipment we need for Astronomy?"

"What new equipment?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"Oh, you know, the new telescope lenses," he said airily. "It was on the book list."

"Was it? I don't remember…"

I definitely knew what was going on by now. I looked at James, who looked at me. I gave him a slightly shy grin, which he returned.

Eventually, Sirius gave up. He walked up to Alice and began whispering into her ear. A look of comprehension suddenly came over her face, and she exclaimed, "Oh! Oh, right… yeah, um, Sirius and I have to go and do… erm, something… See you both later!" And with that, the two of them walked off, Sirius shaking his head incredulously.

"She doesn't take a hint, does she?" asked James quietly, watching the two walking away from us.

"Um, no," I laughed. "She's about as subtle as a brick." He laughed too, and I turned to look at him. He looked straight back at me.

"Listen, Lily…" he said, looking incredibly nervous. He ran his hand through his messy, jet black hair, and continued. "Um… well firstly, I guess I wanted to apologise for being such an idiot for such a long time." He paused, looking at me cautiously.

"Don't worry," I said, smiling. My heart was hammering inside my chest. "I'm just glad that you realised."

He gave another nervous laugh, took a deep breath, and pressed on. "Look, I know I've asked you this question about a million times, and I admit, I never really fully appreciated what I was doing before. But… well, I'd like to think that I've changed over the last couple of months, and also that we've become friends." He looked up at me again, staring earnestly into my eyes. "But I want more."

I looked straight back. He certainly had changed. Here was a depth of feeling I would never before have thought possible, and there was a sincerity in his gaze that was both powerful and endearing.

"Um…" he said, very tentatively. "Will you… will you go with me?"

I kept looking at him. He started to go red. But then I smiled, and nodded. The expression of relief on his face was so great that it caused me to laugh. He laughed, too.

After a while, we fell silent, and stood there looking at each other for a few seconds. He opened his mouth to speak, but just then, we heard a voice calling James' name loudly. Turning, we saw Finbar Quigley, a fifth year, and beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I stood there awkwardly whilst Finbar told James at length about the new broom his father had bought him for his birthday, but after a while, James cut him off.

"Great, Fin, but I'll have to catch you later; I'm pretty busy at the moment. Come on, Lily." He grabbed my hand and we marched off.

"Sorry about that," he said, once we were out of earshot.

"No problem," I replied, grinning.

There was a short silence, before he said, "So, um… what now?"

"Well…" I replied, grinning, "I guess that means you're my boyfriend." He stopped, and looked at me. He was grinning too.

Slowly, he said, "That would make you my girlfriend." I nodded, still smiling.

"Cool," he said, beaming. I laughed. Then, he leant towards me hesitantly, and gave me a brief kiss.

I heard someone squeal loudly behind me. It was Alice. Turning back to James, I rolled my eyes. He laughed.

"Never a moment's peace," he said, and we turned to face Alice and Sirius. Since pulling me away from Quigley, he had not released my hand.

_A/N: Please review! Feedback would be appreciated, particularly since I'm not sure where to go with this next. Suggestions welcome!_


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: Here's the next chapter – it's been a while in the making! It took me quite a time to gather my ideas from the previous chapter, but I've planned a little way ahead. Now I just need to find the time to write them._

_On a completely unrelated note, please check out my YouTube channel! Search for AwesomeFaceSniper (all one word)._ _Some shameless self-promotion there :P_

The next few days passed in something of a haze for me. The remainder of our Hogsmeade trip was spent buying the remainder of the equipment and books we needed for the start of term in September, and James and I spent most of the time at each other's sides, occasionally stealing furtive glances at each other, catching each other's eyes and grinning shyly before looking away. Due to the presence of Sirius, Remus, Alice and Emmeline, it was admittedly slightly awkward.

At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, our party headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, to Floo back to our respective homes. Alice, Emmeline and I lined up first to return to Alice's house, and as Alice stepped into the flames and Emmeline was saying goodbye to Remus, James took my hands in his and looked into my eyes, as if trying to memorise every feature of my face. Then he pulled me into a tight embrace, and whispered in my ear, "I'll owl you this evening, okay?" Then, as Alice disappeared and Emmeline stepped up to the fireplace, he bent down and gave me a swift, but gentle, kiss.

Feeling slightly dazed, and with a tingling sensation spreading across my lips, I smiled up at him, and then walked over to the fireplace. I took my Floo powder and threw it into the fire, stepping into it as the flames turned emerald green. My last glimpse of the bar in the Leaky Cauldron showed me James still grinning broadly at the place I was vanishing; but a second later, I was stepping out of the fireplace in Alice's kitchen, greeted once more by the squeals of the other two, and the rest of the afternoon was taken up with their interrogations over exactly what had happened between myself and James outside Gringotts.

As promised, a letter from James arrived that very evening. His barn owl swooped in through Alice's bedroom window as the three of us lay on our beds talking, and dropped the letter into my lap. Rather than flying back out of the window, however, he settled himself on Alice's desk, next to her owl, Marty. Alice stopped abruptly mid-sentence, and Emmeline sat up and looked over from her Evening Prophet. However, I paid no attention to the other two, but simply opened James' letter to read it.

_Dear Lily,_

_You should see the pile of crumpled-up parchment in my room right now. I can't think what to write! I hope you're okay, and you haven't had to endure too much interrogation from Alice and Emmeline this afternoon, although I think you probably have. Sorry about that! Sirius, for his part, has mostly been ranting about how thick Alice was being earlier. If you need something to shut her up, that should do the trick._

_Speaking of the others, I did really enjoy this afternoon, but I thought it was a bit awkward with them there. So I was wondering if we could meet up again before the start of term? I know that September 1__st__ is only just over a week away, but it would be good to have a 'proper' first date before going back to Hogwarts. And, I really want to see you again!_

_I told Raff to wait for you to write a reply, so I look forward to it tomorrow morning!_

_James  
xx_

I smiled throughout reading this letter, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw that there were two crosses, rather than just one, under his name. Aware of the fact that Alice and Emmeline were still watching me, I picked up a quill and parchment from my bedside table, and wrote back my response.

_James,_

_I'm imagining less of a 'pile', more of a 'small mountain'. Alice and Emmeline haven't been too bad; I shall keep that one up my sleeve for future use._

_I'd love to see you again before the start of term. I don't have any plans next week, so just name the time and place (you have to choose the first date, cause it was you who asked me out!)._

_I'm going to stop here, because Alice and Emmeline have been silently watching me since your letter arrived. I promise my letters will be lengthier when I get back home!_

_Lily  
xx_

I called Raff over and fastened my reply to his leg. He took off out of the window, and I lay back down on my bed, pretending not to notice the other two's continued gazes.

After thirty seconds or so, Alice said, "Well? Are you going to tell us anything?"

"Nope," I replied casually. Alice looked annoyed, but Emmeline simply laughed and returned to the Prophet. When Alice looked at her instead, she said, "Oh, come on, Alice, she's finally going out with him. She deserves a break from our prying. Not a very long one, mind," she said, grinning over at me.

"Well, that's something," I said, yawning.

James' reply came back the next evening, asking me if the following Monday would be a good time for our 'first proper date', as he had put it. I wrote back my reply as I had done the previous day, confirming that next Monday would be fine, and I imagined that James would receive it in the morning. A routine was established; his letters arrived every evening, and my replies would reach him the day after. Both of our letters became considerably easier and more natural over the next few days, and the routine continued when I returned home on Saturday.

Mum grinned knowingly throughout my retelling of the story of me and James getting together in Diagon Alley. When I had finished, she said, barely containing laughter, "Sounds like he has changed!" I gave her a mock-annoyed expression, and she chuckled and hugged me.

On Sunday evening, I was lying in bed reading, and waiting for my letter from James. It came at about 6 o'clock as usual, and after stroking Raff's beak and feeding him a couple of owl treats, I opened the letter to read it.

_Lily,_

_Sirius is starting to drive me mental. His instincts have finally kicked in, and he is teasing me mercilessly and continuously. It's not too bad, though; he doesn't go too far. I have enough dirt on him to make sure of that!_

_Still, it'll be good to escape him for a few hours tomorrow. And I get to see you! Two birds, one stone, eh?_

_I'll be at yours at about 11, if that's alright. I can bring you back here by Side-Along, and we can either stay in for a bit or go out, whichever you prefer. I'm sure I can 'persuade' Sirius to clear off for an hour or two._

_See you tomorrow! (can't wait!)_

_James  
xx_

James' letters had never yet failed to bring a smile to my face. Grinning, I reached for my quill and parchment. I could think of nothing else to write except,

_James,_

_That all sounds great. I can't wait either!_

_Until tomorrow,_

_Lily  
xx_

_A/N: The usual – please read and review!_


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: So, this one has been a while coming… and I'm afraid it's still fairly insubstantial :/ On the plus side, it's the Easter holidays now, so I should have more time. Expect at least one more chapter, probably two, over the next two weeks or so, and a new one-shot in the next couple of days. In other news, I just had my braces off. FINALLY! Someone give me a Mars bar…_

The following morning, I found, once again, that the prospect of seeing James that day caused me to sleep badly. Not only did I lie awake until past midnight, but I also woke early. Rolling over to check the clock at the side of my bed, I saw that it was seven o'clock, and so I still had four hours before James arrived. After trying and failing to distract myself with various books, magazines and anything else I could think of for a solid two hours, I finally headed downstairs.

The house seemed unnaturally quiet as I descended the staircase, and as I reached the bottom I discovered why. Mum had left me a note at the bottom of the stairs. It read,

_Dad and I have gone out to work. Tuney's spending the day at Vernon's, she's already gone. There's stuff in the kitchen you can have for lunch/dinner if needs be (enough for two!) – we won't be back till late, boring work function this evening. Tuney also probably home late._

_Have fun on your date!_

_Mum xx_

Without really thinking about what I was doing, I proceeded into the kitchen to make myself breakfast. My mind, however, was quite elsewhere. I tried putting cereal on a plate instead of in a bowl. I poured myself two glasses of orange juice in succession without realising. I pulled a spoon out of the draw to butter my toast with. My mind was quite obviously elsewhere, and I was absent-minded and clumsy.

After my haphazard breakfast, I returned to my bedroom to get ready. Here, I forced myself to concentrate, knowing that I simply had to look good. I went for a similar outfit to that which I had worn when we had met James, Sirius and Remus in Diagon Alley, except that my top was red, matching my hear, instead of green to go with my eyes. I went back downstairs, and curled up on the sofa to wait for James.

About an hour later, I heard a knock at the door. I had drifted to sleep whilst waiting for James, and did not entirely have my wits about me as I headed to the front door. In my half-asleep state, I had forgotten for whom I was waiting, and why. However, it all came back in a rush as I opened the door, yawning, and saw him standing on the front step, looking quite as casually handsome as ever. Today he was wearing a polo-necked t-shirt and jumper with a pair of black denim jeans, and once again had about him that air of almost indifferent elegance. As I saw him, my eyes flew wide open and my mouth closed hurriedly to stifle my yawn. He laughed.

"Forgot I was coming?" he teased, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Sorry," I mumbled, stepping aside to let him in. "I was half-asleep."

"I could tell," he grinned, stepping over the threshold. I closed the door behind him, and we stood there, staring at each other for a few seconds, before I said, "Do you… um… want anything to drink?"

"Er, yeah… just a glass of water would be good, thanks," he said. After stepping over the threshold, he suddenly looked as nervous as I felt. I led him through to the kitchen, where I took two glasses out of the cupboard over the sink and filled them both with water. I handed one to him, which he accepted with a smile.

I watched him as he raised the glass to his lips. He took a few gulps and then lowered it, looking back at me. He smiled, and felt myself blush slightly. This embarrassed me still further; I felt like I was thirteen. He had only smiled at me. I cast around for something to start a conversation with, to cover the awkward moment.

"So, um… did you sleep alright last night?" I said at random. The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them, and I inwardly cursed myself for asking such a ridiculous question.

However, James just chuckled again. "I gather you didn't," he replied, the twinkle back in his eye. I felt relieved; at his joke, the tension in the room had dissipated hugely.

"Well," I said, smirking a little myself, "I had… lots on my mind."

"Oh yeah?" he replied, raising an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Oh, nothing in particular," I said absently, but still grinning. "I was supposed to be meeting this really handsome guy for a date today… he hasn't shown up yet, though…"

He clutched at his chest in a mock-wounded fashion. I laughed, and he poked his tongue out at me.

"Cheeky," he said, taking another sip of his water. I placed my own on the counter behind me, then walked over to him. I took his glass out of his hand and set it down next to me, then reached up, placing my hands round his neck, and kissed him. He pulled me closer, one hand around my waist, the other on the back of my head. I felt once again that tingling sensation in my entire body, and then my heart skipped a beat as he gently brushed his tongue against my lower lip.

We broke apart after about a minute or so, and looked into each other's eyes.

"Been looking forward to that all week," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching. I laughed, and, collecting my glass of water from where I had left it, led him through into the living room, where we both curled up on the sofa I had been asleep on when he had arrived.

"So what have you done with everyone else?" he asked as we sat down.

"Mum and Dad are out at work," I replied, "and Tuney's at her boyfriend's house. Mum left a note, and apparently none of them are back until late. Will we be endlessly harassed if we go back to your place?"

"Nah," he chuckled, "we should be alright. Dad's at work, I think Mum was planning to spend the day with a friend, and Sirius can be got rid of quite easily." I laughed, but slightly distractedly; as he talked, he had taken my hand in his and started playing with it absently. It was an extremely pleasant sensation, and I responded, gently rubbing our fingers together as we made further conversation.

After a while, James said, "So, shall we get going? I don't know about you, but I'm getting a bit hungry, to be honest." Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was one o'clock. I suddenly noticed that I was quite hungry, too.

"Yeah, ok," I said, and got to my feet. He stood up too, and, still holding hands, we turned on the spot and Disapparated.

_A/N: Hope you liked! Please review :)_


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: So here's part 2 of the first date! Featuring Flirty!James, Embarassed!Lily and Prankster!Sirius. I hope no-one who knows me too well reads these. A large part of this chapter is based, and in some cases directly quoted from conversations I had with my last girlfriend when we started going out. Anyhoo, I'll just let you read it. More to come, and soon, I have ideas and I need to write them down! :D_

We arrived in the hallway of James' house with a small 'pop'. After pausing for a second to recover ourselves, James smiled at me and led me past the stairs on the right to the door at the end of the hall, which led to the kitchen. I watched him as he busied around for a few minutes, fixing lunch, helping here and there. Five minutes later, we carried our plates of pasta through to the living room, where we sat down at the table to eat.

"This is great, James," I said. The pasta was genuinely delicious. "I wouldn't have thought you were the domestic type."

"Thanks," he said, grinning. "Mum made me learn to cook when I was 13. She said she'd refuse to let me become a typical layabout teenager when I'm at home."

I laughed. "So, you just do that at school instead, right?"

He swallowed, and poked his tongue out at me again, causing me to giggle further.

"You're going to have to be all responsible next year, what with being Head Boy and everything," I teased him.

"I can be responsible!" he said, trying to look indignant, but ruining the effect somewhat by grinning. I raised my eyebrows, and he laughed.

"In all seriousness, though," he said, after a few more mouthfuls of pasta, "I will be responsible next year. I guess I'm going to have to be, aren't I?"

I looked up at him. He was looking at me intently. Guessing what he was thinking, I said, "Dumbledore obviously thought you'd be a good Head Boy, and when has he ever been wrong?"

He smiled at me in thanks, but obviously couldn't resist teasing me a little further. "It's not the fact that I'm going to be Head Boy; it's that _you're_ going to be Head Girl! Imagine what you'd do to me if I failed all my NEWTs…"

"Looks like your irresponsible youth is finally over, James," I grinned.

"Tragic," said a voice from the door. Turning around, I saw Sirius standing there, shaking his head solemnly.

"How long have you been there, Padfoot?" asked James wearily.

"Not long enough for you two to have noticed," he said, now grinning at the pair of us. We both eyed him suspiciously.

"What?" he said, grinning. "Don't you trust me?"

"No!" said James and I together.

He pretended to look offended. "Are you implying that I would attempt to sabotage my best friend's first proper date with his _lovely _new girlfriend?" He tipped me an enormous wink, and I rolled my eyes at the ceiling. "Come on," he said, "would I?"

"Yes!" we said in unison, both laughing.

"I am most hurt, my friends, and shall therefore take my leave," he said, in a mock-dignified voice. To James, he said, in his normal tone, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, mate!"

"That doesn't rule much out," pointed out James, and Sirius beamed.

"Thank you!" he replied delightedly. "Well, have fun, kiddies." He turned walked out of the room. A few seconds later, we heard the front door open and close.

"I'm worried now," said James, the moment Sirius had left the house. "He's blatantly up to something."

"Oh, come on, I'm sure he wouldn't," I said. James just looked at me pointedly.

"Fair point," I conceded. "What shall we do?"

"Um…" he said, clearly thinking hard. "Problem is, I've no idea what he might have done… Why don't we finish lunch, and then go back to yours? That should keep us safe from whatever he has planned."

"Good idea," I said, returning hurriedly to my pasta.

Five minutes later, after quickly finishing our pasta, we got to our feet and prepared to Disapparate. James walked around the table and clasped my hand again, and we turned on the spot.

BANG!

As we felt for the consuming nothingness that would take us to our destination, a sound like a minor explosion went off, and I gave a small scream, stumbling into James and knocking him over. I fell on top of him, and a second later we were deluged in pink, heart shaped confetti, amid the sound of a chorus of small fireworks going off. After a few, shocked seconds, James and I both began to laugh, and there was a much louder crack as Sirius Apparated back into the room.

"Blimey, Prongs," he said, looking down at us. "I know not doing anything I wouldn't doesn't rule out much, but even I would think twice about _that_ on a first date!" We suddenly realised the somewhat compromising position we had landed in, and both scrambled to our feet, blushing furiously.

"Okay, Padfoot, not bad," said James, but he sounded amused. "You've had your fun now, care to leave us alone?"

"Oh, alright, then," he said, and chuckling, he left.

As the door closed once again, I said to James, "Between him, Alice and Em, do you think we're going to get any privacy over the next year?"

"Oh, I think we could manage some, at least," he said, a twinkle in his eye. "Come here, I've got to show you something!" He reached out his hand, and I took it. He led me upstairs and to the first door on the right, which had a small plaque on the door saying "_James'__ Room_". Pushing open the door, he led me inside.

It wasn't a big room, but it was extremely cluttered. A second bed, presumably for Sirius, had been crammed in against the wall on the opposite side of the room from James' bed, and there were two Hogwarts trunks lying open under the window. Piles of books, parchment and newspapers littered the floor, and the single shelf that ran around the entire wall was piled with books, in some places right up to the ceiling.

James crossed over to the opposite wall quickly, expertly stepping between the stacks that stood like small towers across the floor, and began rummaging in his trunk. Placing my feet somewhat more gingerly, I went over to his bed and sat down on it. After a few seconds, James said, "Here we go!"

I looked up, and saw him holding a piece of very strange material. It seemed to flow almost like liquid, and shimmered mystically as he held it.

"Um… what is it?" I asked, puzzled. In response, he swung it over his shoulders, and I screamed.

His head was hanging in mid-air, but the rest of his body had vanished completely. I could see straight through him to the mess of his and Sirius' trunks against the back wall. James grinned, and removed the cloak. His body materialised once again, and he came and sat next to me on his bed.

"Explains a lot, that does," I said, still looking at the cloak.

"Highly useful," he agreed. "The number of times we must have snuck down to the kitchens to steal food under this…" I nodded absently, still staring at the cloak. Something had just struck me. James seemed to have noticed.

"What's up?" he said, hoisting his legs up off the floor to sit cross-legged, facing me on the bed.

"I… I guess I just realised," I said, adopting the same posture, "that there's so much we don't know about each other." I looked up at him, and saw briefly a surprised look on his face. He appeared to consider what I had said for a moment, and then once again took my hand in his.

"Well," he said, "there's a simple solution to that. Ask me something. Anything." I simply looked at him, and he smiled. "Go on," he said, "absolutely anything."

I cast around in my head for something to ask him. "Um… favourite colour?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry!" I said, grinning. "I couldn't think of anything else." He chuckled.

"Red," he said, and he detached his hand from mine and ran it through my hair, smiling at me. I felt my face promptly turn that colour, too.

_A/N: Not too sure about ending the chapter here, but otherwise it would be ridiculously long. The date will be finally wrapped up in the next chapter, and then it's Hogwarts time! ^_^_

_Please review!_


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: Sorry it's been a while! (again :P) but it's half term in a week, so I should hopefully get more done then – Hogwarts time soon!_

We whiled away the rest of the afternoon playing "the question game," asking each other questions ranging from the personal to the downright silly, and answering them in turn, facing each other on James' bed with our legs crossed, holding hands. In the silences between our talking, when one or other of us was trying to think of a question or of an answer, we found ourselves caressing each other's hands, James stroking my thumb, me running my thumb across his palm, and so forth, as though we were both trying to memorise every minute detail.

"What's the earliest thing you can remember?" I asked him.

He thought for a moment, then smiled sadly and said, "Doing a jigsaw puzzle at my grandma's house. It's the only memory I have of her, she died when I was three."

I caught up his hand again and stroked it in a consoling fashion. I didn't really know what to say.

After a few seconds, he seemed to come out of a reverie. "Sorry. Hey, it's okay. How about you?"

I thought, too, and then replied, "Having an ice cream in the park with my sister. I think I'd have been three or four."

James grinned. "Are you and your sister close?"

"We were," I sighed, "until I met Severus and we got our letters from Hogwarts. She was jealous, you see. She tried to hide it, called us freaks. But I know that she wrote to Dumbledore and tried to get him to accept her to Hogwarts too. It's not too bad these days, she's civil enough, but we hardly ever talk. There's still something bitter between us."

James was silent for a few seconds after I finished, then said, "Wow. I… I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said, smiling slightly. "I feel sorry that we're not friends any more, but…" I trailed off. James didn't press me to continue, but kept holding my hand, and I could feel his gaze on me, despite having looked down.

I felt James squeeze my hand slightly. I looked up and saw him watching me intently.

"It feels sort of… bad," I said, "but sometimes I think… if that's the price I have to pay for coming to Hogwarts, it's… kind of worth it, I suppose. But I feel really bad whenever I think that."

"I don't think you should," said James bluntly. "I mean, you didn't ask for magical powers, there's no reason why she should stop you enjoying them." I continued to stare at him, and after a few seconds he hurriedly said, "I mean, I don't think you should forget about her! It's just, I think she'll come round, eventually."

I grinned. "Yeah, let's hope so." I squeezed his hand, and then said, "Your turn to ask."

He thought for a moment, then asked, "You got any scars on your body?"

"Just the one," I said, and stretched out my leg in front of me and pulled off my sock to show James the scar that ran across the side and back of my foot. "I got knocked over by a car near my house when I was ten."

"Ouch," he said, wincing. He reached out and traced the scar with his finger. I shivered slightly.

"Sorry," he said, withdrawing his hand quickly. "Does it hurt?"

"No," I said. "I can't really feel it at all. It's just… my feet are a bit ticklish." James face slowly split into a wide, evil grin. I gasped.

"Don't you dare!" I said, but it was too late. He leapt forward, tickling my foot with one hand and my stomach with the other. I giggled shrilly and half-heartedly tried to fight him off. I was gasping for breath, and I felt tears of laughter form in my eyes. I again tried to push him off, but with no real conviction. I was secretly rather enjoying it.

After failing to push him off me twice more, I tried tickling him back. He laughed, saying, "I'm not ticklish, Lily!" I giggled still harder, my eyes closed tight. Then, taking James completely by surprise, my eyes flew open; I pulled James down and kissed him. He completely froze for a moment, and then responded enthusiastically. He fell down onto the bed next to me, and his hand wriggled under my waist and around my back, drawing me closer to him.

We broke apart, looking into each other's eyes.

"So now I know how to shut you up," I said grinning. He laughed.

"No fair," he said, running his free hand through my hair.

"As if you tickling me were fair!" I said indignantly.

"Touché," he grinned. Then he pulled me close again and kissed me again. He was much more daring this time; his tongue brushed against my upper lip, and barely a second later, he gently nibbled at my lower lip. I gave a soft moan as he did so, and he trembled against me slightly.

When we broke apart this time, we simply lay there on the bed, staring at each other in silence. James began stroking my hair again, and I smiled shyly at him. He grinned right back at me.

The moment was somewhat broken a few minutes later, when James' stomach gave a large rumble. We both burst out laughing.

"Sorry," he said, looking slightly embarrassed, but still laughing.

"That's okay," I said. "Shall we get something to eat? We can go back to mine if you want; Mum said she'd left some food for us."

"Good idea," he said. We got up, grasped hands once again, and Disapparated.

On arriving at my house, we fixed the meal of prawn curry and rice that Mum had left and sat down to eat it. While we were eating, we continued our game of getting to know each other better. Our conversation had become so much freer and easier than it had been even that morning.

As we finished dinner, James glanced at his watch. "Hey, listen… I'm probably going to have to go, Lily." I looked at my watch, too; it was quarter to eight.

"Aww," I said. "Do you have to?"

He nodded. "Mum and Dad will be wondering where I am." I gave him an exaggerated pout, and he laughed. "Don't do that, it'll make me feel terrible!"

"Sorry," I said, laughing. We both stood up, and I walked around the table to him. I hugged him tightly, and said, "See you on Friday at King's Cross, then?"

"Can't wait," he said quietly. He placed his hand on my chin and tilted my head upwards, and kissed me briefly, but longingly. I took a step back from him, smiling. He looked at me, grinning too, for several seconds, then turned on the spot and Disapparated.

_A/N: Reviews motivate me to write more. *hint hint*._


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Exams are the excuse of choice this time. However, it is now the summer holidays, and whilst I have a lot to do over the summer, I'll try and find a bit more time for writing too. Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

_Lily,_

_How on earth can it be the end of the summer holidays already? It seems shorter every year… Not that I don't want to go back to Hogwarts, but this has been a great summer._

_I must admit, though, I'm feeling a bit wary about going back. I mean, it's bound to be a difficult year, with the exams and everything, added to which there'll be Head Boy duties… And if I'm honest, I'm slightly worried about the rest of the school's reaction to me being Head Boy. Normally I'm not one to care, but I just don't think anyone will have expected it (I know I didn't!) and I want to take it seriously._

_On a related note, I'm sure you'll have realised that there will be a certain amount of muttering about the two of us. People are likely to come up with all sorts of ridiculous stuff, given, shall we say, our past record. I hope this doesn't bother you too much – we could always keep it quiet for a while if you want?_

_This letter has turned out far too depressing! We're going back to Hogwarts tomorrow! And I love it when September 1__st__ is a Friday. First two days of term are the weekend! I hope the weather's good and we can go outside. Ah, the opportunities!_

_Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow,_

_James  
xx_

I smiled on reading this letter, touched that James trusted me enough to reveal these worries to me, and also at his concern about how I felt about other people's reaction to our relationship. Whilst neither his trust nor his affection was by now unfamiliar, it still felt wonderful every time he showed them. Getting up from my bed, I crossed over to my desk, sat down, and pulled a fresh piece of parchment and a quill towards me to write my reply.

_James,_

_Let them mutter! They'll be wrong about you being Head Boy, and we both know that they'll be wrong about us._

_Seriously, I've said it before and I'll say it again: you'll be a great Head Boy. Since when has Dumbledore ever been wrong? I don't think I'm the only one who realises how much you've changed. And you're already really popular, so you shouldn't have much difficulty getting people to listen to you. And I doubt they'll give you too much grief for taking it seriously, either. Cheer up!_

_I can't wait to go back, but it's strange that this will be our last year, don't you think? It's all I've ever known in the magical world, it'll be strange to leave it behind. It's exciting, but a little scary too. But there's still another year before then, starting tomorrow!_

_Meet you in front of the barrier to the platform tomorrow?_

_Lily  
xx_

At a quarter to eleven the following morning, I sat in the front seat of the car next to Mum as we parked the car in front of King's Cross Station. Mum went to get a trolley as I heaved my trunk out of the boot, and we then proceeded into the station.

"Have a good term, Lily," said Mum, hugging me tightly. I had said goodbye to my father that morning before he had left for work.

"I will," I replied, hugging her back. "See you at Christmas, Mum!"

"See you at Christmas," she echoed, and released me. "Well, I need to be going. Goodbye, sweetheart!"

"Bye," I said, smiling. She turned and walked towards the station exit. As I watched her go, I felt a tap on my left shoulder and turned. But there was no-one there. I turned the other way, and saw James right next to me.

"Hello," he grinned. "Fancy seeing you here." I laughed and hugged him. After a few seconds, we broke apart, and it was only then I noticed the three people standing a short distance behind him: James' parents, and Sirius.

"Public displays of affection for James, Lily? Who'd have thought it?" said Sirius mischievously. I laughed, slightly nervously, aware as I now was of the presence of James' best friend and his parents.

James, however, seemed quite at ease, and more than used to Sirius' teasing. He took my hand in his. "Don't mind him, Lily, I think he's just jealous," he quipped.

Sirius looked mortified. "How on earth did you know, James?" he wailed. "I thought my love for you was absolutely secret…" We all laughed.

"It's lovely to meet you, dear," said James' mother, addressing me for the first time. "James talks about you a lot."

"You can say that again," muttered Sirius, loudly enough that we could all hear him, and we laughed again, although I felt slightly embarrassed.

The five of us, James, his parents, Sirius, and I, went through the barrier together, emerging onto Platform 9 ¾. The magnificent Hogwarts Express billowed steam onto the platform, over the huge tide of students and their parents, sharing goodbyes and greetings, all with a sense of tremendous excitement.

After James' parents said goodbye to us, James, Sirius and I headed up the train. Sirius left us when he found Peter, but James and I kept going right up to the front carriage. We boarded the train and entered the as yet empty prefects' compartment, and James lifted my trunk into the luggage rack for me before placing his own beside it. We sat down next to each other, waiting for the other prefects to join us.

They entered one by one over the next five minutes. All of them except Remus showed visible signs of surprise at the sight of James; the two Slytherin seventh-year prefects looked positively murderous. James, however, seemed completely unfazed.

The final prefect, a Gryffindor fifth-year, appeared just as the train began to move at precisely eleven o'clock. As James had never been a prefect and so knew about as much of what should happen next as the fifth-years, I decided to take charge.

"Hello to all of you," I said, standing up. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Lily Evans, and I'm Head Girl this year. James Potter here is Head Boy," I continued, indicating James to my right. All eyes rested upon him expectantly, but he just smiled and said, "Hi."

"Our first job is to organise duty rotas and so forth," I said, and as everyone returned their gaze to me, I noticed that James still looked rather nervous. "You will do your duties in pairs with the other prefect from your year and house. If anyone has any problems with this they can come and talk to me or James later."

The rest of the morning was spent organising the prefects into their duties and telling them what was required of them. During all of this, James hardly said a word, although he did glare ferociously at the two Slytherin fifth-years, who were whispering to each other while I was talking. They shut up pretty quickly.

At about one o'clock, we dismissed the prefects, telling them to patrol the corridors occasionally and report any trouble. As they walked out of the compartment, I sat down next to James. Remus was the last to leave.

"The others are all in the first compartment of the next carriage," he said as he left. "I'll see you there?" We both agreed, and he slid the door shut behind him.

"You okay?" I said to James, resting my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "It's just, I know less about what I'm doing than they do, and you and I are supposed to be in charge!"

"You'll pick it up quickly," I reassured him. "Besides, all your duties are with me, so I can keep an eye on you." He looked down at me, and meeting his gaze I saw him wearing a suggestive look. I blushed slightly. "You know what I mean!"

He chuckled. "Shall we go and face the others, then?"

"Alright," I grinned. We stood and left the compartment.


	17. Chapter 17

_A/N: This chapter was actually pretty easy to write, but it took me ages to get round to it! I've got a work experience placement in an IT firm this summer, which involves getting up at quarter to 7 every morning. Huzzah. And a 4,000 word essay to write. Double huzzah. Oh well, these are my problems, not yours! Enjoy the chapter! :D_

If the prefects had been surprised to see James Potter as their Head Boy on the Hogwarts Express that morning, it was nothing to the astonishment of the entire school as James and I sat next to each other at dinner, talking animatedly, laughing and joking, and paying more attention to each other than to our food. It was certainly a departure from the start-of-term feast last year. The Old James, as I had taken to referring to him in my head, had strolled very arrogantly into the Great Hall and straight to where I had been sitting with Alice and Emmeline, and said loudly, "So, Evans, going to go out with me this year?" I had been a little embarrassed, but predominantly annoyed, as everyone within a fifteen-metre radius had looked round to see my response. Although I had felt myself going slightly red, I decided to simply ignore him.

This year, though, it was the muttering onlookers I was ignoring, not James. I marvelled how easy it was to talk to him; despite exchanging constant correspondence since we had become a couple that day in Diagon Alley, and spending a whole day together in the meantime, we still found no shortage of topics for conversation. In fact, we talked to the extent of somewhat excluding our friends from the conversation, and whilst the other Marauders, Alice and Emmeline were nevertheless enjoying themselves without us, it did make me feel some small twinge of guilt, as James and I sat at the end of the group of seventh-year Gryffindors, paying hardly any attention to the rest. However, the pleasure of simply talking to James and the enjoyment of his company vastly overshadowed this.

It was during a conversation about the Gryffindor Quidditch team's prospects for retaining the cup this year that James said abruptly, "You do realise at least half the people in the hall are talking about us, don't you?"

I tore my eyes away from him and looked around. James and I were seated on the far side of the Gryffindor table from the doors, so that we were looking out across the three other house tables. Sure enough, eyes from every table were flicking towards the pair of us occasionally, and I saw the same story looking down the Gryffindor table. As I looked the other way along the table, my gaze also took in the staff table, and I saw that even Professor Dumbledore was observing us with a twinkle in his eye. As I caught his eye, he raised his goblet in my direction ever so slightly and winked. I blushed and grinned sheepishly. James, who had also seen this exchange, laughed softly.

"Told you so," he smiled, and I looked back at him. "Even Dumbledore… It doesn't bother you or anything, does it?" He tried to sound casual, but at the same time I detected a slight hesitation in his tentative question.

"Not at all," I reassured him. "In fact, it feels… sort of nice, in a way. Don't you think?"

"Depends what they're saying," he replied. "As long as you're not worried about it."

I smiled, again feeling warmed by his concern for my feelings, and continued the conversation we were having. "So anyway, what were you saying about Ravenclaw's Chasers?"

"Well, they're looking pretty strong this year. They were brilliant last year, of course, but thankfully Moran was injured when we played them. Of course, with Frisby keeping for us, we'd probably have been fine anyway, but it really depends who we can find to play Keeper this year. I kind of fancy playing Chaser this year, which should help a bit. None of the other houses' Seekers are particularly strong, and Frank Longbottom's a decent enough reserve."

I nodded. "That'll make Alice happy," I said absently, referring to Alice's long-standing and well-known crush on Frank. I had momentarily forgotten that she was sitting right next to me.

"What'll make me happy?" she said quickly, looking round. "I am still here, you know."

I opened my mouth to reply with a hasty "Nothing," but thankfully, at that very moment, Professor Dumbledore stood up to make his usual start-of-term speech, and the whole hall fell silent. Internally, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lily? Lily, can you hear me?"

"What?"

I started. Alice had grabbed my shoulder and shaken it forcibly.

"Ouch! What was that for?" I said, annoyed.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but Dumbledore just finished his speech, and now you need to show the first-years to the common room," replied Alice, a slight edge to her voice. "Or were you too busy staring at James?"

I blushed. That was exactly what I had been doing.

"Right… thanks, Alice…" I said distractedly. Thankfully, James had been talking to Sirius, and had apparently not heard our conversation. Alice got up and stalked out of the hall without another word.

"What's up with her?" I asked Emmeline, who was still sitting opposite me.

"Um… don't know," she said, unconvincingly. "You'd better go, Lily. I'll see you tomorrow."

We both got up and leaned across the table to hug each other. After we broke apart, and Emmeline turned to walk out of the Great Hall, I turned to James. "Come on, then! We need to show the first-years where to go."

"Alright," he said, getting up. He looked down the table at the small group of nervous new students at the end of the table. "Come on, you lot! Don't be shy!" They got up and came over to the pair of us.

"So, welcome to Gryffindor!" said James, grinning round at them. "And congratulations on getting picked for what is quite obviously the best house." A few of them giggled.

I was quite taken aback. In the prefect's department on the train, James had hardly said a word. Here, however, he was very much in control of the situation, and seemed completely at ease.

"We're going to take you up to the common room now," he continued. "It's quite a way away, it's on the seventh floor. You're really going to get a sense of just how big Hogwarts is on the way up. So just follow us, me and Lily, and if you've got any questions, feel free to ask, okay?" Then he turned and lead the way out into the Entrance Hall.

I remained at the back of the group, watching James as he lead the group. When we had come to Hogwarts in our first year, the prefects had shown very little interest in us as they showed us to the common room. James, however, was chatting freely with the new students, telling them about various aspects of the castle, pointing out and waving to some of the moving portraits, and talking about some of the lessons and teachers the first-years would experience.

When we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, James greeted her jovially and introduced her to the first-years. "Word of advice, guys," he said, grinning shiftily. "If you're ever coming back to your dormitory at one in the morning – which I would obviously be appalled at, being Head Boy…" He paused, and gave them all a very stern look, causing some of them to laugh again, albeit slightly timidly. "… you should most certainly be prepared to cover your ears. She may look sweet and docile, but you don't want to get on her bad side!"

The Fat Lady laughed. "You're too kind, James!" she said, giving him a roguish wink.

"Anyway," continued James, as the first-years laughed again, "the password is King Richard. Don't forget it, and remember to keep an eye on the notice board in case it changes." With that, the Fat Lady swung open, and James clambered inside. After all the first-years had followed him through, I started forward too, but before I had gone through, the Fat Lady spoke again.

"He's changed, hasn't he?" she said, her voice slightly muffled as she was still facing the wall. I could still hear the implication behind her words though. Perhaps her friend Violet had already informed her of the gossip that was sure to be spreading through the school like wildfire about James and me.

However, I simply replied, "A lot," and clambered through. I emerged from the other side of the portrait hole to find James finishing his talk to the first-years.

"It'll take you a while to find your way around Hogwarts, but you'll pick it up," he was saying. He pulled out his wand and waved it, and a small stack of parchment appeared in front of him. He caught it, and said, "These are instructions on the quickest way down to the Great Hall from here. So you can impress all the other houses by not getting lost on your way to breakfast tomorrow." Once again, they all laughed as he handed round the parchment, and then made their way up to their dormitories.

After sending the first-years off to bed, James and I went to see Professor McGonagall before turning in, as we had been instructed on our arrival ealier. She had congratulated us both on our appointment, and spoke briefly about our new positions, encouraging us to use our responsibility to benefit the school in new ways. We were then given directions to the Head's common room, and the password (_New Leaf_).

As we left, James said to me, "Can we please change the password?"

I laughed, but said nothing. It was quite possible that James himself was setting some kind of world record for the biggest leaf ever turned over.

_A/N: Please please please review! The next chapter will feature Bitchy!Alice, Gossipy!Slytherins, and Jealous!Snape. Not sure when it'll be up, but I'll try and get it written ASAP. Thanks to everyone so far who has red, reviewed, etc. ^_^_


	18. Chapter 18

_A/N: Sorry about the delay for this chapter – I had some computer problems recently, so had to re-write half the chapter. :/ To make up for it, in this chapter I include the compulsory "Sirius/serious" pun that must be found in any Marauders-era story. Also features Angry!Alice. Hope you like it! ^_^_

Never was the tradition of Hogwarts terms starting on the 1st September more appreciated than when that date fell on a Friday. As James had pointed out in his last letter before the beginning of the school year, this meant that the first two days after the start-of-term feast were free from homework and lessons – a weekend of total freedom to celebrate being back at Hogwarts.

Directly after finding the Head's common room the previous evening, James and I, both exhausted, had gone immediately to our rooms, pausing only to say goodnight to each other. I awoke the following morning to the sound of James singing a rather impressive tenor in the shower. As I glanced over at my clock, I immediately decided that half past seven in the morning was not the best time to appreciate my boyfriend's vocal talents. I clumsily picked up my wand from my bedside table and pointed it towards the door. Although I had long since given up on any reconciliation between myself and Severus, his spells still had some use.

"_Muffliato_," I mumbled sleepily. Instantly, the sounds of James' voice and the rush of water coming from his bathroom were quietened, and I rolled over in my incredibly comfortable bed and went back to sleep.

Nearly two hours later, I awoke again and decided that the time qualified as civilised enough to get up, and after getting dressed, I went into the small living area in the Heads' rooms, which resembled a miniature version of the Gryffindor common room, mainly due to the fact that the red wallpaper and wooden floor seemed to be exactly the same. Next to two mismatched armchairs and a small sofa arranged in a U-shape with a table in the middle was situated a warm, crackling fireplace, giving the room an extremely welcoming and cosy feel.

Entering the room, I saw that James was seated in on of the armchairs, reading the morning Prophet. Red and gold firelight danced across his face, mixing with the bright sunlight streaming in through the window, as he frowned at the newspaper he was holding.

"Dear Lord," he muttered, before noticing me and standing up, grinning. "Fancy going down to breakfast?"

"I'd have thought you'd already been," I replied. "God knows you were up early enough!"

"How'd you know?" he asked as we walked out through the hole concealed by an ugly gargoyle. The sound of it sliding back into place followed us as we walked away.

"Erm… I heard you singing in the shower, you sort of… woke me up," I said, feeling a little embarrassed. Reddening slightly, I looked down at my feet, but a second later I heard him laughing.

"Looks like the doors aren't Imperturbable. I assumed they were. Kind of made sense, cause they are in the Gryffindor dormitories. Evidently they trust us far too much, eh?" he grinned.

"What exactly made you find out that the doors in the Gryffindor dormitories are Imperturbable?" I asked incredulously.

It was James' turn to blush. "... That's a long story."

"How... I mean…"

"You don't want to know," he grinned.

On entering the Great Hall, I saw that Alice and Emmeline were not there, nor were the other Marauders. Usually, James told me, the four of them rose early, and they had probably already left. Emmeline and Alice, on the other hand, normally got up late at weekends, and I doubted whether either of them was awake yet.

Not long after James and I had started eating, however, my two best friends came through the double doors on the opposite side of the hall, talking in low voices; appearing not to notice me and James at all, they walked straight past us on their way up the Gryffindor table, and I caught something of their conversation.

"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?" Emmeline was saying.

"Of course not," scoffed Alice. "For heaven's sake, it's absolutely ridiculous…"

"Mmfwh mff mwfm?" I heard James say, still looking at my friends' retreating backs. Evidently he had his mouth full.

"Sorry, what was that?" I smiled, looking round at him.

Swallowing, he said, "What's that about?"

"Alice? Goodness only knows," I replied. "Except… well, she was a bit strange at dinner yesterday too. She was a bit short with me, but I have no idea why." I shrugged. "Oh well. What shall we do today?"

After some discussion we eventually decided to spend the morning taking a walk around the grounds, given that it would be some of the last good weather that year. We finished eating at set off through the Entrance Hall. As we walked out of the huge double doors and into the grounds, James stretched out his hand to me. Blushing, but grinning, I took it.

We walked down past the Herbology greenhouses and around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, stopping briefly to talk to Hagrid outside his hut, where he sat chopping vegetables.

"Never though' I'd see the day," he chuckled, seeing us holding hands as we approached. "Bout bloody time, mind. Don't mind tellin' yeh there's been a bit of a wager between the staff fer a while now!" He leaned in conspiratorially. "Between you an' me, Professor McGonagall owes me a few Galleons!"

After successfully parting from Hagrid without having to try and eat any of his rock cakes, we strolled round to the other side of the lake and sat down on the grass. We stared out over the lake for a while, watching the tentacles of the giant squid waving above the water. All of a sudden, it started moving towards us at an alarming pace, and we hastily retreated up the bank and out of its reach.

"Going to have to watch out for that thing from now on," said James, grinning.

"Speak for yourself, you're not the one who nearly got dragged under the lake by it!" I said.

"Until your brilliantly dashing knight in shining armour came to save the day!" said James heroically, and I laughed.

At around half past one, we both realised we were rather hungry, and headed back up to the castle for lunch. As we walked into the Entrance Hall, we saw Alice and Emmeline coming down the marble steps, and I waved at them. Emmeline waved back, but Alice completely ignored me and stalked across the hall.

"Alice? Alice!" I called, but she did not look round. I finally decided that enough was enough. I ran over to the door into the Great Hall, reaching it at the same moment she did.

"Will you just tell me whatever it is that's bothering you?" I demanded, grabbing her by the shoulders.

But she shrugged my hands away. "Oh, finally remembered we exist, have you?"

"What?" I said, completely nonplussed.

"You do realise you've only spoken to me once so far this year?" she said coldly. "I would have thought, even though you have a '_boyfriend'_" – she spoke the word derisively – "you'd still have some time for your best friends!"

"I – what?" I said, startled. "Are you serious?"

"No, I am!" said a grinning Sirius, coming out of the Great Hall behind Alice with the other Marauders. "Alright, everyone? What's going on –"

He never finished the sentence, because Alice turned around sharply and hit him, hard, across the face. He staggered, dumbfounded.

Everyone stood there, still and silent, for several long moments. Then Alice burst into tears and ran back up the marble staircase, all of our gazes following here.

"What the…" I muttered. "You okay, Sirius?"

"Yeah," he replied, still looking startled. "What's up with her?"

"I… I dunno," I said. "Emmeline?"

Emmeline looked uncomfortable, and stared down at her feet for a few seconds. Then she said, "She's not pissed off about you and James. Not really."

"Then what on earth…" I began, but she cut me off.

"I don't think I have the right to tell you," she said flatly. "I think she's just using you as an excuse to vent at the moment. I'd better go and see if she's okay. See you later." And she turned and walked away towards the upper floors.

_A/N: Please please please review! :D_


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